In 1994 Uganda took an initiative to prepare a Water Action Plan (WAP) and since then, the situation of water resource management has improved significantly.
The WAP was a comprehensive set of documents that detailed the activities associated with water resources development and management and further defined priority action areas to revitalize the water resources management sub-sector. It provided the government with guidelines and strategies for the protection of and development of water resources and a structure for their management at national, district and local levels. The WAP provided recommendations and laid a proper foundation for other important document.
As a follow up to the recommendations of the WAP, the Government enacted a Water Statute (1995) and gazetted a National Water Policy (1999), thus putting in place a comprehensive enabling legal and institutional framework for water resources management in the country. In the same year (1995) the National Environment Statute was also enacted to provide a framework for co-ordination and sound management of the environment including environmental impact assessment of water resource related projects.
Since the preparation of WAP in 1994, Uganda has been promoting IWRM as an integral part of its strategy. An enabling legal and institutional framework has paved a way for establishment of water resources data and information for use in planning of water resources projects has been improved.
Other arrangements such as a regulatory framework to control water abstraction and the pollution of water bodies played a crucial role in this regard. In 2003 the Directorate of Water Development initiated the Water Sector Program Support, WSPS 2 (2003-2007), which aimed to develop a cadre of highly trained and motivated staff to handle issues of water management in the country.