NWSC is a utility parastatal 100% owned by The Government of Uganda. It was established in 1972 under decree No: 34.

The mandate of the Corporation as defined in the National Water & Sewerage Corporation Statute of 1995, Section 5 (1), is to operate and provide water and sewerage services in areas entrusted to it, on a sound, commercial and viable basis. The NWSC operations were initially in three towns of Kampala, Jinja, and Entebbe.

In 1988, four additional towns of Mbale, Tororo, Masaka, and Mbarara were handed over to NWSC by the then Water Development Department, WDD, now known as the Directorate of Water Development (DWD). This was after completion of the IDA financed rehabilitation program. In November 1995, the Corporation was re-established under the NWSC Statute. In 1997, the towns of Kasese and Fort Portal were handed over to NWSC following a successful rehabilitation financed by the German government.

In April 1999, the town of Kabale was handed over to the NWSC as a prerequisite to the rehabilitation and expansion work which was due to be carried out with funding from the German government.

The total number of towns currently served by the NWSC are twenty two (22) viz; Kampala, Jinja/Njeru, Entebbe, Tororo, Mbale, Masaka, Mbarara, Gulu, Lira, Fort Portal, Kasese, Kabale, Soroti, Bushenyi/Ishaka, Arua, Mubende, Masindi, Hoima, Lugazi, Iganga, Malaba and Mukono. These represent the larger Urban Centres within Uganda.