Water4Virungas

The Virunga National Park is situated on the dividing line between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. Local people live in poverty and have only limited access to clean drinking water, because there is little surface water and wells are scarce. What’s more, there are numerous regional conflicts, some stemming from the shortage of water.

In a project called Water4Virungas, Witteveen+Bos is working on improving the water infrastructure in a consortium made up of Dutch and local companies, non-governmental organisations and universities. We are taking stock of the difficulties in the current drinking water supply and, based on an inventory of the hydrology, are producing a design that will complement the existing infrastructure. The goal is to offer the entire rural area access to clean drinking water in the future. One of the benefits of collaboration with local organisations is that they will acquire knowledge of water management.