Water Access for the Batwa

In the forest, the Batwa had access to one of the cleanest water environments in East Africa. Bwindi's altitude and dense vegetation produce reliable spring water filtered through volcanic soil. The forest streams that the Batwa drank from, cooked with, and bathed in were fed by the same hydrology that makes the ecosystem so biodiverse. Water was never a scarcity problem for a people who lived within it.

Displacement changed this completely. The land the Batwa were pushed onto — marginal land on the edges of farming communities, steep hillsides, degraded plots that other people did not want — was chosen because it was available and cheap, not because it was livable. Most of it had no water infrastructure. The streams and springs that did exist were shared with cattle, used for agricultural runoff, and often contaminated.

The only latrine coverage figure we have is 20% — meaning 80% of Batwa households practice open defecation. In dense settlements where housing is clustered, this creates direct contamination pathways to water sources and dramatically increases the transmission of waterborne diseases, particularly affecting children under five.

Water collection in Batwa settlements, as in most rural East African communities without piped infrastructure, falls disproportionately on women and girls. Collecting water from a stream or communal point 30–60 minutes away on foot is not a minor inconvenience — it is several hours of daily labour that crowds out time for income generation, schooling, or rest. For Batwa women who already carry the highest education and economic disadvantage in the community, this invisible burden compounds every other indicator.

Rainwater harvesting tanks are a pragmatic solution for dispersed settlements on land without piped water infrastructure. A 5,000-litre tank can store roughly 10–15 days of basic water needs for a household of five at minimum usage levels. Larger settlements receive multiple tanks — Bwabutukulu, Kitariro, Kihembe, and Sanuliro each receive three, reflecting their larger household count.

The programme covers eight of the nineteen Batwa communities around BINP. The eleven not included are not forgotten — they fall outside the current World Bank project's implementation scope or timeline. The IFPA-CD project closes June 30, 2026, and all activities must be delivered before that date. Some of the larger infrastructure needs — piped water systems, borehole drilling — are beyond the project's mandate and require separate government programming.

During the December 2025 VMGP validation meetings, community members specifically raised water supply as a priority need. The inclusion of the tank programme in the revised VMGP reflects a direct response to this feedback. When community members are asked what they need, water consistently appears alongside land and tools. It is one of the most fundamental and most neglected gaps in the post-displacement support for the Batwa.