Drought and households’ adaptive capacity to water scarcity in Kasali, Uganda

Abstract

The world is experiencing variability in precipitation, increased temperature, drought frequencies and intensities. Globally, approximately four billion individuals experience water scarcity due to drought. In Uganda about 10% of the population in the southern and northern parts of the country experience drought related water scarcity annually. This study aimed at assessing drought and households’ adaptive capacity (AC) to water scarcity during drought in Kasali. This was done through determining drought trends from 1987 to 2017, assessing the impact of drought on water availability and the AC of households to manage water scarcity. Droughts were assessed based on the Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI). The results show a decrease in the average annual rainfall, and the seasons of March-April-May (MAM), January-February (JF) while the seasons of September-October-November-December (SOND) and June-July-August (JJA) show an increase in rainfall trend. The average maximum and minimum annual and seasonal temperature increased significantly by between 0.56 and 1.51∘ C. The minimum temperature increased more than the maximum temperature. Kasali experienced one extreme dry year and four moderate ones between 1987 and 2017. Above 70% of the households spend longer hours collecting water during dry years than wet years. The AC of households to water scarcity was low and drought negatively impacted water availability.