Why a borehole is not like digging a pit latrine - The Observer Media Ltd

A writer with engineering experience in Tororo District in 1996 argues that public attacks on engineers over borehole failures miss the technical realities of finding water underground. In his account, drilling for wells requires more than “digging”: water often sits in aquifer rocks, not in soil, and drilling in pure clay can yield mud, while hard rock without cracks can produce dust and waste roughly Shs 50 million. He criticizes a growing trend where politicians and others grill engineers on social media after projects fail, and asks why professional bodies—including the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers and the Engineers Registration Board—have not spoken up as legal and other groups are guarded by their own associations.