WASH Under the Funding Crisis: Meeting Water Treatment Needs in Uganda's Refugee Settlements as the DRC Emergency Deepens

Uganda is now the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, and the systems keeping 1.7 million displaced people alive are breaking down faster than they can be repaired. As of January 2026, only 6% of the required humanitarian funding for Uganda's refugee response has been secured, and the International Rescue Committee has been forced to close health services across 11 refugee settlements, cutting care for over one million refugees.

For WASH coordinators and NGO procurement managers working across Bidibidi, Imvepi, Rhino Camp, Palabek, and Kiryandongo, the operational question is no longer abstract: how do you maintain safe water access when institutional support is collapsing around you?

The answer begins with treatment at point of use, reliable distribution infrastructure, and pre-positioned stock that can move within days rather than weeks. But to get there, field teams need to understand the specific pressures now converging on Uganda's settlements — and what they mean for product selection, dosing protocols, and procurement lead times.

Quick Answers for Field Teams

• The Sphere minimum for displaced populations is 15 litres per person per day; UNHCR field data from Uganda found refugees receiving approximately 11 litres per day, requiring at least 4 additional litres to close the gap.

• Free residual chlorine (FRC) target at point of use is 0.2–0.5 mg/L under normal conditions; raise this to 1.0 mg/L at the distribution point during active cholera transmission.

• Aquatabs 67mg treat 20 litres of clear water (turbidity below 5 NTU) per tablet; in turbid water, pre-sediment with P&G Purifier of Water sachets before chlorination.

• Water trucking currently covers 20% of water needs in Uganda's refugee settlements — every litre arriving by truck needs treatment confirmation before it reaches a household storage container.

The Convergence of Crises Hitting Uganda in 2026

The pressures on Uganda's refugee WASH infrastructure in mid-2026 are not single-event crises. They are four separate emergencies arriving simultaneously. First, conflict in eastern DRC has displaced over 8.2 million people, with that figure projected to reach 9 million by end of 2026 according to UNHCR. Congolese refugees account for 31.1% of Uganda's total refugee population, and arrivals through Kyangwali and Kyaka II settlements have surged since renewed fighting in Ituri and North Kivu provinces.

Second, the DRC cholera outbreak — declared the worst in 25 years by UNICEF, with 64,427 cases and 1,888 deaths reported between January and October 2025 — is not contained at the border. In displacement settings, Vibrio cholerae travels with people, not with government surveillance systems. Uganda's Ministry of Health and UNHCR have already activated screening at border entry points, but health centres in receiving settlements are operating at double their design capacity according to the IRC, with clinicians seeing more than 100 patients per day.

Third, the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in DRC's Ituri Province, declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by WHO on 17 May 2026, adds a biosafety dimension to every WASH intervention. Ebola Treatment Units require elevated water volumes — a 20-bed ETU consumes roughly 20,000 litres per day for patient care, decontamination, and staff hygiene — and Uganda is on WHO's active monitoring list for cross-border transmission.

Fourth, 2026 funding cuts have forced the IRC to suspend programmes serving more than one million refugees. Acute malnutrition across 12 of Uganda's 14 refugee locations has risen from 5.4% to 7.8%, weakening immune systems and increasing susceptibility to waterborne disease. The aid architecture that WASH systems have relied on for co-funding and co-delivery is contracting. Equipment procurement and programme delivery are increasingly falling on implementing partners with less institutional infrastructure.

Why Trucked Water Creates a Treatment Obligation

Twenty percent of water needs in Uganda's refugee settlements are currently met through water trucking, and that share is growing as borehole rehabilitation budgets are cut and demand from new arrivals outpaces installed handpump capacity. Trucked water is not inherently unsafe, but it is inherently vulnerable: FRC degrades during transport, cross-contamination can occur at filling and offloading points, and storage bladders in settlements often lack adequate coverage from sunlight that accelerates chlorine decay.

Every litre arriving by truck requires treatment confirmation before it reaches a household storage container. That means FRC testing at three points: at the departure point before the truck leaves, at offloading into the settlement tank or bladder, and at a sample of household collection points. The Sphere Handbook establishes a minimum FRC of 0.2 mg/L at point of use — a threshold that frequently fails in trucked systems when chlorine is dosed at source but not re-dosed on arrival or in storage.

For settlement WASH officers managing trucked distribution, the practical fix is re-dosing with Aquatabs 67mg at the offloading point. One tablet per 20 litres of clear water achieves approximately 0.5 mg/L FRC, adequate for routine distribution. During active cholera transmission, bump the dose to achieve 1.0 mg/L FRC at the distribution point in line with WHO cholera response thresholds — this typically means doubling the tablet dose, especially in high-turbidity or high-temperature conditions where chlorine demand is elevated. Authorised distributors for Aquatabs 67mg can supply rapid procurement orders for settlement-scale programmes — see WASH products available from Specialized Logistics Solutions (SLS).

Household-Level Treatment in High-Density Settlements

For households in Bidibidi or Nakivale where centralised treatment is unreliable or non-existent, P&G Purifier of Water sachets remain the most effective point-of-use option for turbid or highly contaminated source water. Each sachet treats exactly 10 litres using a two-stage process — ferric sulfate coagulates and settles suspended particulate, then calcium hypochlorite disinfects — removing more than 99.99999% of bacteria and 99.99% of viruses including those responsible for cholera and hepatitis A, according to WHO performance data.

The operational advantage in a settlement context is the combined flocculation-disinfection action. Borehole water is generally low-turbidity and can be treated with chlorine tablets alone. But water from shallow wells, seasonal streams, or settlement drainage points in high-rainfall months carries suspended solids that bind chlorine before it can disinfect. Dosing a turbid source with Aquatabs alone wastes tablets and produces water that still carries risk. The two-product approach — P&G sachets for turbid sources, Aquatabs for clear — gives a settlement team the flexibility to respond to varying source quality across a large geographic footprint.

For a household of five at the Sphere minimum of 15 litres per person per day, 75 litres of treated water per day is required. One P&G sachet treats 10 litres, meaning seven to eight sachets per day at minimum. In practice, each household receiving 120 sachets has approximately 16 days of treatment capacity at that rate — a two-week buffer that gives time for supply replenishment. Programmes distributing NFI kits should calculate sachet quantities on household size and duration to avoid mid-cycle stock-outs that create gaps in protection during outbreak peaks. Detailed planning tools and supply options are available through SLS's WASH product line.

Pump Infrastructure: Keeping Distribution Points Functional

Chlorine tablets and sachets keep water safe once it is in a container. Getting water to that container — from borehole to tank to tap stand to household — requires mechanised pumping infrastructure that is frequently the first thing to fail when maintenance budgets are cut. In Uganda's northern settlements where gravity-fed systems are unavailable, diesel-powered pump sets at boreholes and distribution tanks are load-bearing infrastructure. When a pump fails, a settlement reverts to hand-carrying from open sources, and FRC at point of use drops to zero regardless of how well the central treatment is managed.

For settlement engineers specifying or replacing pump sets in 2026, the selection criteria are reliability under continuous duty in high-ambient-temperature conditions, availability of spare parts in-country, and resistance to the dusty, abrasive conditions common around borehole headworks during the dry season. Multiquip pump sets — available through Specialized Logistics Solutions (SLS) with pre-positioned stock in Kampala — are matched to these conditions. The QP Series centrifugal pump, with output up to 1,500 litres per minute at maximum flow, can service a large tank fill operation overnight when power is available, reducing generator run-time and fuel costs. For submersible borehole applications, the ST series handles flow rates up to 227 litres per minute on a compact single-phase motor that runs on a standard field generator. See the full pumps and equipment catalogue for specifications.

Procurement Under Funding Pressure: The Case for Pre-Positioned Regional Stock

When USAID and other major donors cut programme budgets in early 2025, implementing partners across Uganda lost not just programme funds but procurement lead times. Emergency procurement through Nairobi or Kampala — the normal route for WASH consumables — assumes access to credit lines and established supplier relationships. When those structures contract, field teams are left trying to source Aquatabs or P&G sachets from retail channels at three to four times the programme rate.

The practical solution is pre-positioned regional stock with a supplier who can issue against a purchase order without requiring full payment in advance, and who holds product in the region rather than shipping from Europe or South Asia on a six-week lead time. Specialized Logistics Solutions (SLS) holds WASH product stock in Juba and Kampala, including Aquatabs 67mg (authorised distributor) and P&G Purifier of Water sachets (exclusive distribution rights for South Sudan). For Uganda-based programmes, the Kampala office means same-week collection or rapid transport to border settlements including Busia and Malaba crossing points for northern settlement supply. Contact Specialized Logistics Solutions (SLS) to discuss procurement terms and current stock availability for Uganda-based programmes.

Given that only 6% of Uganda's 2026 humanitarian funding was secured as of January, procurement managers who wait for full programme approval before building a treatment product pipeline will find themselves behind when a cholera case is confirmed in a settlement. Sphere standards do not pause while paperwork is processed.

What This Means for Your Programme

Uganda's refugee settlements in 2026 face a compounding crisis: record displacement from DRC, active cholera and Ebola PHEIC cross-border transmission risk, and the steepest humanitarian funding cuts in a decade. Each of these individually would stress a WASH system. Together, they create conditions where even a well-managed programme can fail unless point-of-use treatment is maintained with reliable product supply, distribution pumping infrastructure is in working order, and procurement is arranged before an outbreak forces emergency response.

The field protocols are clear: chlorinate trucked water on arrival, use the right product for source turbidity, test FRC at point of use not just at the tank, and size household distribution quantities to household size rather than per-household average. The product availability is there. What bridges the gap between a plan and a functional system is a supplier with in-region stock and 35 years of operational history in the same environments where these programmes operate.

Specialized Logistics Solutions (SLS) holds pre-positioned stock of Aquatabs 67mg, P&G Purifier of Water sachets, and Multiquip pump sets in Juba and Kampala, available for rapid dispatch. Contact the team at sales@maji-safi.org.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minimum water quantity required for refugees in a settlement under Sphere standards?

The Sphere Handbook sets a minimum of 15 litres per person per day for displaced populations in emergency settings. During active cholera response, WASH coordinators should plan for 20–25 litres per person per day to account for oral rehydration needs, caregiver handwashing, and surface decontamination at health facilities and household level.

How should field teams treat trucked water on arrival at a settlement distribution point?

Test FRC at the offloading point before accepting delivery. If FRC is below 0.2 mg/L, re-dose with Aquatabs 67mg — one tablet per 20 litres of clear water — or with an equivalent chlorine solution. Retest after 10 minutes contact time. During active cholera transmission, target 1.0 mg/L FRC at the distribution point and confirm 0.2–0.5 mg/L at household collection points via random sampling.

When should a WASH team use P&G Purifier of Water sachets rather than Aquatabs?

Use P&G Purifier of Water sachets when source water turbidity exceeds 5 NTU or when the water is visibly discoloured. Aquatabs are effective in clear water but do not remove particulate matter that binds chlorine and reduces disinfection efficacy. In a settlement where households are collecting from seasonal streams, shallow wells, or drainage-affected boreholes, P&G sachets provide flocculation followed by chlorination — a more complete treatment for contaminated sources.

What FRC level should WASH teams target during a cholera outbreak?

WHO and MSF field guidance recommends 1.0 mg/L FRC at the point of distribution during active cholera transmission, rising to 0.2–0.5 mg/L at point of use in household storage containers. These thresholds are higher than routine standards because Vibrio cholerae requires a higher chlorine contact to ensure inactivation, particularly in warm, high-organic-load water.

How quickly can WASH consumables be sourced from Kampala for northern Uganda settlements?

For programmes operating in Bidibidi, Imvepi, Rhino Camp, or Palabek, Kampala is the nearest supply hub. Road transport from Kampala to Arua (the nearest major town to Bidibidi and Rhino Camp) is approximately 470 km on tarmac — a one-day drive under normal conditions. Specialized Logistics Solutions (SLS) maintains stock in Kampala and can dispatch against a purchase order within 24–48 hours of confirmation. Contact the team at sales@maji-safi.org for current stock levels and delivery terms.