Continued conflict in South Sudan has forced over 1,291,294 people to seek refuge in neighboring countries. Uganda, known for its progressive refugee laws, hosts a majority of the refugees from South Sudan, providing refugees and asylum seekers with right to work, freedom of movement, and access to social services. The protracted nature of conflict and the scarcity of resources in settlements necessitates study on land use, settlement planning, and shelter design. The current work focuses on finding innovative methods to build durable shelters, hydrological study, technical support for iron removal, sanitation in flood-prone areas, land-use and site planning strategies, and WaSH Behavior Change Research in the Adjumani settlement of Uganda. 

In the past two years, Uganda has witnessed an influx of nearly one million refugees who have settled in the sparsely populated northwestern region of the country. This rapid population growth has created high demand for clean water resources. Water supply has been unable to keep pace with demand because the fractured rock aquifers underlying the region often produce low yielding wells. To facilitate management of groundwater resources it is necessary to quantify the spatial distribution of groundwater.