Multi-billion project to clean up polluted Nakivubo channel underway
Apr 21, 2010
NAKIVUBO Channel, one of the waterways polluting Lake Victoria, is set for a massive clean-up, according to experts in the water ministry.
By Vision Reporter
NAKIVUBO Channel, one of the waterways polluting Lake Victoria, is set for a massive clean-up, according to experts in the water ministry.
The inner Murchison bay on Lake Victoria is being polluted by the channel, which carries effluent and rubbish from Kampala City.
For decades the clean-up of the channel, which serves as a drainage point for Kampala’s two million people, has remained pending.
The nine-kilometre channel was constructed under a World Bank-funded project and implemented by Kampala City Council to alleviate flooding in the low-lying areas of Kampala
Christopher Kanyesigye, an official at National Water and Sewerage Corporation, said: “The treatment costs of water at Ggaba Water Works shot up immediately after the construction of the channel.â€
Paddy Twesigye, an engineer with the National Water and Sewerage Corporation, said: “We can no longer pretend that Nakivubo Channel is a waterway. It has become an open sewer.â€
However, with the sh204b project, which includes a loan from the Africa Development Bank and grants from the German government, the European Union and the Government of Uganda, there is hope that the sewerage systems in Kampala will be revamped, saving the channel.
The project, dubbed ‘Kampala Sewerage Master Plan’, is scheduled to start this year. It will entail a sewerage treatment system, a sewage line and a power generating plant.
“Sewage treatment plants will be established at Lubigi, Inner Murchison Bay, Nalukolongo and Bwaise,†Twesigye said.
The plants will increase connection to sewer services from 10% to 30%, he added.
The commissioner for water quality, Florence Adong, said: “The channel now carries plastic bottles, sewage and effluent from industries.â€
She observed that only 10% of the population is connected to sewer lines, which means that 90% empties its sewage in the channel during floods.
Adong added that Kampala City Council collects 25% of the solid waste generated every month, meaning that households in slums dispose their waste in backyards.
Adong said while wetlands are natural filters for polluted water, the Nakivubo swamp’s cleaning capacity has been reduced by increased agriculture and construction. Also parts of the channel have been turned into washing bays. This has increased the growth of algae (green matter), contaminating the bay.
Adong noted that the creation of an environment protection force will help secure the wetlands like Nakivubo, Kinawataka and Namanve.
Aryamanya Mugisha, the NEMA executive director, said the swamps should be protected because they filter waste and if we destroy them, it will become too expensive to construct artificial wetlands. He added that unscrupulous people had obtained land titles for wetland areas.
“A few people benefiting from encroachment on the swamps, but the entire population in Kampala will pay for the destruction of the environment,†he said.
NAKIVUBO Channel, one of the waterways polluting Lake Victoria, is set for a massive clean-up, according to experts in the water ministry.
The inner Murchison bay on Lake Victoria is being polluted by the channel, which carries effluent and rubbish from Kampala City.
For decades the clean-up of the channel, which serves as a drainage point for Kampala’s two million people, has remained pending.
The nine-kilometre channel was constructed under a World Bank-funded project and implemented by Kampala City Council to alleviate flooding in the low-lying areas of Kampala
Christopher Kanyesigye, an official at National Water and Sewerage Corporation, said: “The treatment costs of water at Ggaba Water Works shot up immediately after the construction of the channel.â€
Paddy Twesigye, an engineer with the National Water and Sewerage Corporation, said: “We can no longer pretend that Nakivubo Channel is a waterway. It has become an open sewer.â€
However, with the sh204b project, which includes a loan from the Africa Development Bank and grants from the German government, the European Union and the Government of Uganda, there is hope that the sewerage systems in Kampala will be revamped, saving the channel.
The project, dubbed ‘Kampala Sewerage Master Plan’, is scheduled to start this year. It will entail a sewerage treatment system, a sewage line and a power generating plant.
“Sewage treatment plants will be established at Lubigi, Inner Murchison Bay, Nalukolongo and Bwaise,†Twesigye said.
The plants will increase connection to sewer services from 10% to 30%, he added.
The commissioner for water quality, Florence Adong, said: “The channel now carries plastic bottles, sewage and effluent from industries.â€
She observed that only 10% of the population is connected to sewer lines, which means that 90% empties its sewage in the channel during floods.
Adong added that Kampala City Council collects 25% of the solid waste generated every month, meaning that households in slums dispose their waste in backyards.
Adong said while wetlands are natural filters for polluted water, the Nakivubo swamp’s cleaning capacity has been reduced by increased agriculture and construction. Also parts of the channel have been turned into washing bays. This has increased the growth of algae (green matter), contaminating the bay.
Adong noted that the creation of an environment protection force will help secure the wetlands like Nakivubo, Kinawataka and Namanve.
Aryamanya Mugisha, the NEMA executive director, said the swamps should be protected because they filter waste and if we destroy them, it will become too expensive to construct artificial wetlands. He added that unscrupulous people had obtained land titles for wetland areas.
“A few people benefiting from encroachment on the swamps, but the entire population in Kampala will pay for the destruction of the environment,†he said.