By Gerald Tenywa

THE water quality at the inner Murchison Bay, around Ggaba and Luzira, has become over-polluted because of the filth from Kampala City that has been filtering through Lake Victoria over the years.

This has forced the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) and Uganda Bell Breweries to shift their intake points deeper into the lake to avoid the filth.

The inner Murchison Bay is the source of water for the over two million people residing in Kampala and neighbouring towns like Mukono and Gayaza.

Experts from NSWC, during an inspection headed by the environment state minister, Jessica Eriyo, said in the last 10 years, the water treatment costs had trebled.

The inspection was organised by the Water Quality Management Department ahead of the World Water Day to be celebrated under the theme; ‘communicating water quality challenges and opportunities.’

“The cost of treating water has trebled within the last 10 years,” said Christopher Kanyesigye, an official of NWSC.

“It is necessary to shift the water intake point 200 metres from the lakeshores to avoid the impurities in water.”

In the recent years, residents of Luzira have complained of a foul smell coming from the lake, particularly at night.

Florence Adongo, the water quality management commissioner, said the filth covers a depth of about three metres and the water level at Murchison Bay has reduced by about half a metre in the last five years.

She said the waste includes silt, industrial waste, raw sewage and solid waste coming from different parts of Kampala.

“The waste from people’s residences around Kampala and Entebbe ends up in the lake,” said Adongo.

The industries without waste treatment plants also release their waste into the environment and this is driven into Nakivubo Channel, she added.

Adongo also noted that the sewage lagoons that previously cleaned out the waste from Luzira Prison were no longer functional, meaning that untreated sewage is being released into the water.

Hotels like the Commonwealth Resort at Munyonyo and residences around Murchison Bay are not connected to the sewer systems and release untreated sewage into the lake, according to Adongo.

“What we can do is to create awareness as the Government prepares the Environment Police to help enforce environmental laws,” said Dr. Gerald Sawula Musoke, the deputy head of the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).

The waste enters into the lake through Nakivubo Channel, Kinawataka stream, Kirinya stream and River Mayanja.
Eriyo’s team observed as they moved from Munyonyo to Ggaba and Luzira that the water quality kept on declining, with the best water recorded at Munyonyo.

The water quality turned to army green at Ggaba water works, while the samples collected from the mouth of the Nakivubo Channel were black, meaning that there was more sewage than water.

Ggaba Water Works, which was established in 1928, started by filtering waste, but with increasing pollution, disinfection was introduced.

However, the pollution, which contributes to the rapid growth of algae has increased to unmanageable levels, forcing NWSC to move deeper into the lake.