Siltation and sediment is clogging up Lake Nakivale
Sep 29, 2005
GUAGES within Lake Nakivale in Isingiro, south-western Uganda indicate that the lake basin has been covered by silt, reducing the depth of the lake by four metres. Besides, the surface area (width) of the lake has reduced by 10 metres from the shores.
By Ebenezer Bifubyeka
GUAGES within Lake Nakivale in Isingiro, south-western Uganda indicate that the lake basin has been covered by silt, reducing the depth of the lake by four metres. Besides, the surface area (width) of the lake has reduced by 10 metres from the shores.
The continuous inflow of silt into the approximately 25 square-kilometre Lake Nakivale has turned the water brownish due to ‘turbidity’ (mud-pollution).
Siltation is caused by poor vegetation management as evidenced by tree-cutting on Ngarama and Kabingo hills. Overgrazing, bushfires, charcoal-burning and lack of terraces have increased siltation in Lake Nakivale, thus causing its imminent extinction, according to Jeconious Musingwire, the national environmental management authority (NEMA)’s western region public awareness and information focal officer.
The cultivators, who have occupied around Lake Nakivale are encroaching on the fishing villages of Kashonjo, Kahirimbi, Rukinga and Nakikusi. There were hardly any cultivation within these fishing villages and intensive cultivation was 10kms away from these fishing villages, which existed since 1920s.
The cultivators encroaching the fishing villages are mainly refugees who have been allocated plots on the shores of Lake Nakivale by the administrators of Oruchinga and Nakivale refugee resettlement camps. The refugees are mainly cultivating on the banks of Lake Nakivale.
The water that is being displaced by sedimentation in Lake Nakivale has created the three kilometre- long Lakes Oruchinga and Mabona in Kikagati and Kabingo sub-counties, respectively.
As Musingwire warns, the new lake has helped the refugees in Oruchinga and Nakivale refugee resettlement camps to access water, but there is doubt about the quality of that water.
Meanwhile, the water from Lake Nakivale is filling up the five kilometre Mabona valley near the Kabingo-Endiizi bridge and the eucalyptus and other tree species within Lake Mabona are drying up due to lack of moisture since the roots are waterlogged.
However, Lake Nakivale is not the only victim of silt. The eight small lakes surrounding Lake Nakivale are also shrinking.
To save these lakes, cultivation on the lake margins must stop. The cultivators — both nationals and refugees — should be relocated 10kms away.
Tree planting accompanied by sensitisation meetings should be made a priority in the Oruchinga valley, particularly in the refugees’ camps.
The writer is a journalist
Ends
GUAGES within Lake Nakivale in Isingiro, south-western Uganda indicate that the lake basin has been covered by silt, reducing the depth of the lake by four metres. Besides, the surface area (width) of the lake has reduced by 10 metres from the shores.
The continuous inflow of silt into the approximately 25 square-kilometre Lake Nakivale has turned the water brownish due to ‘turbidity’ (mud-pollution).
Siltation is caused by poor vegetation management as evidenced by tree-cutting on Ngarama and Kabingo hills. Overgrazing, bushfires, charcoal-burning and lack of terraces have increased siltation in Lake Nakivale, thus causing its imminent extinction, according to Jeconious Musingwire, the national environmental management authority (NEMA)’s western region public awareness and information focal officer.
The cultivators, who have occupied around Lake Nakivale are encroaching on the fishing villages of Kashonjo, Kahirimbi, Rukinga and Nakikusi. There were hardly any cultivation within these fishing villages and intensive cultivation was 10kms away from these fishing villages, which existed since 1920s.
The cultivators encroaching the fishing villages are mainly refugees who have been allocated plots on the shores of Lake Nakivale by the administrators of Oruchinga and Nakivale refugee resettlement camps. The refugees are mainly cultivating on the banks of Lake Nakivale.
The water that is being displaced by sedimentation in Lake Nakivale has created the three kilometre- long Lakes Oruchinga and Mabona in Kikagati and Kabingo sub-counties, respectively.
As Musingwire warns, the new lake has helped the refugees in Oruchinga and Nakivale refugee resettlement camps to access water, but there is doubt about the quality of that water.
Meanwhile, the water from Lake Nakivale is filling up the five kilometre Mabona valley near the Kabingo-Endiizi bridge and the eucalyptus and other tree species within Lake Mabona are drying up due to lack of moisture since the roots are waterlogged.
However, Lake Nakivale is not the only victim of silt. The eight small lakes surrounding Lake Nakivale are also shrinking.
To save these lakes, cultivation on the lake margins must stop. The cultivators — both nationals and refugees — should be relocated 10kms away.
Tree planting accompanied by sensitisation meetings should be made a priority in the Oruchinga valley, particularly in the refugees’ camps.
The writer is a journalist
Ends