COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF WATER SOURCES IN KIBAALE DISTRICT: A CASE STUDY OF KASAMBYA SUB COUNTY, UGANDA

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between community participation and sustainability of water sources in Kibaale district, taking a case of Kasambya Sub County. The objectives of the study were to establish the relationship between community participation in planning, community participation in implementation and community participation in maintenance and sustainability of water sources in Kasambya Sub County. Data was collected using questionnaires, interviewee guides and documentary review guides. The study revealed that, community participation in planning and maintenance had a negligible positive correlation with sustainability of water sources and their relationships were statistically insignificant at 0.05 level of significance. Implying that community participation in planning and maintenance did not guarantee sustainability of water sources in Kibaale district. The study further established that community participation in implementation had a small degree positive correlation with sustainability of water sources and their relationship was statistically significant at 0.05 level of significance. Implying that community participation in implementation of water projects would to a small extent guarantee sustainability of water sources in Kibaale district. The study recommended re-establishment and training of all water user committees for all water sources, filling vacant positions of all existing water user committees, enacting an ordinance as far as maintenance of water sources in Kibaale district are concerned and holding village and parish level elections to fill the existing local level power vacuum. The study recommended the following areas for future research; to study the relationship between types of water sources and their sustainability and conduct a comparative study of community participation and sustainability of water sources with other sub counties in Kibaale districts.