Pollution of Murchison Bay exposes Kampala's rotten soul

By Gerald Tenywa

As the sun appears over Murchison Bay near Luzira in Kampala, Jackson Kitamirike, a water expert in the environment ministry, leans over the edge of the boat in which he is sitting and draws a sample of water for a routine check.

He looks up and the expression on his face changes suggesting that he does not like what he sees. Each time Kitamirike does tests on the waters of Murchison Bay, he encounters more contamination with filth than on his previous visit. The water is black and smells like rotten faeces showing that something has gone amiss.

About 10km away from Murchison Bay, a child defecates on the verandah of a crumbling house in Makerere- Kivulu. Her mother does not have access to a latrine, so she dumps the faeces into the nearby Nakivubo Channel, which empties its waste into Murchison Bay.

Between Kivulu-Makerere and Murchison Bay, workers release blood and cow dung from a slaughterhouse into the Nakivubo Channel. Also, behind Silver Springs Hotel in Bugolobi is where a swamp that used to shield Murchison Bay by temporarily trapping waste water and releasing clean water is under intense encroachment.

All this, according to Kitamirike, is what has contributed to the dying of the lake. He says the foul smell is a sign that the lake has more sewage than water.

“This part of the lake is dead because it can no longer support aquatic life such as fish,” says Kitamirike. “Have you seen any fishermen here? Fishermen cannot go where there is no fish.”

He adds, “disease-causing organisms such as bacteria have replaced what used to be a rich breeding ground for fish. This is the making of people who have been releasing untreated waste, including sewage, into the lake.”

Less than 10% of the two million people in Kampala are connected to the public sewers, according to the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).

More than half of the population lives in slums without proper sanitation facilities. In addition to this, less than half of the garbage generated in the city is collected. And most agro-industries in Kampala do not comply with the waste treatment measures instituted by NEMA.

Kitamirike was part of a team that inspected the lake two weeks ago, covering parts of Ggaba where water from Kansanga drains into the lake, Murchison Bay. The bay is also referred to as the mouth of the lake and where Kinawataka stream flows into Lake Victoria near Port Bell- Lake drive zone.

Rampant destruction of wetlands has rendered the lake defenceless against pollution. The waste draining into the lake, according to Kitamirike, is contributing to the destruction of the lake, which sustains the livelihood of 30 million people in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

Kitamirike had the rare attention of top politicians, including ministers Maria Mutagamba (water and environment) and Betty Bigombe, the state minister for water. Others were members of the natural resources committee, experts on environment and local leaders.

Water treatment costs going up

Murchison Bay plays a dual role because it collects waste from Kampala and it is also where the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) get raw water, which is treated at Ggaba Water Works and pumped back to Kampala City.

In the 1930s, Ggaba Water Works was set up with simple processes of water treatment. This has been replaced by superior plants in order to cope with the increasing pollution. In order to avoid high treatment expenses, pipes that extract water have been relocated away from Murchison Bay.

The cost of treating water has increased three-fold in the last decade, according to Godfrey Alwata, a senior water analyst at NWSC.

But NWSC has used innovative mechanisms to shield Kampala City residents from high water bills, according to Arwata.

Depth of the lake declining

In 2004, Kitamirike says the depth of the lake at Murchison Bay was seven metres, but this has now dropped to only one-and-half metres. This, he says, means the lake at Murchison Bay is dropping at a rate of about one metres every year.

“It is too much to lose the lake at this rate,” says Kitamirike.

The uncollected waste and soil are washed into the lake during the rainy season, according to Kitamirike. As a result, the waste and soil are piling up and reducing the depth of the lake. Already, marshes made of floating vegetation at Murchison are taking over parts of the lake and in the years to come, this is likely to become part of the land, says Kitamirike.

“Water is a good record of the activities taking place on the land,” Kitamirike says. “The reclamation of wetlands and heaps of uncollected waste are easily swept into the lake.”

He adds, “If this continues unabated, the entire Murchison Bay will die in the next 10 years.”

This will follow Homa Bay, a part of Lake Victoria that was destroyed by pollution from Kisumu in western Kenya.

Study on Murchison Bay pollution coming

Kitamirike says a study is to be conducted in the next nine months to establish the extent of pollution. This, he says, will be determined in terms of area and also composition of the waste.

“We suspect that heavy metals linked to ailments such as cancer could also be getting into the lake,” Kitamirike says.

He adds that factories making paints and batteries release their effluent into channels such as Nakivubo, which lead to the lake.

According to Kitamirike, it is too costly to clean up and the only thing the study is expected to do is suggest remedial measures such as the regulation of industries plus ensuring that markets and people take care of their waste.

The rich and the poor behind environmental destruction

The LC1 chairperson for Lake Drive, Awula Mangeni, says the degraders are responsible citizens. He was referring to the rich who have built magnificent mansions on the lakeshores.

Also, the waste from their homes drains into the lake. But Kafabusa Werikhe, a member of the natural resources committee, interrupted, pointing out that Mangeni should not call them responsible citizens.

“They are highly-placed, but not responsible citizens,” Werikhe said.

This has been the case with the arm of Nakivubo swamp separating Bugolobi and Kitintale. The swathe of the wetland was supposed to be part of the reserve proposed a decade ago, but the process has never been concluded.

And encroachment has been eating away the swamp near Silver Springs under the nose of the Government’s bureaucrats.

New Vision established that National Housing and Construction Corporation have a land title to the chunk of the land and the National Environment Management Authority had cleared their development. Today, a series of apartment are racing into the air as if competing to hug the skies.

Without money to buy land upland, the poor have resorted to the swampy parts of Kampala turning them into homes.

Institutions contradicting each other

While the Wetlands Management Department is working for the conservation of wetlands, the lands ministry has been giving land titles from the heart of the city up to the lake, according to Paul Mafabi, the commissioner for wetlands. Equally disturbing, Mafabi pointed out, is that NEMA has approved most of the investments in the wetlands.

During the inspection, the legislators wanted to put NEMA on the spot to explain this state of affairs, but the top government watchdog was not represented.

The legislators want all the land titles given in wetlands to be cancelled. This is the second time government officials are calling for the reversal of the decisions taken by Kampala District Land Board and lands ministry to offer land titles in wetlands.

Government speaks out

Much as industries provide employment and revenue to the Government, they must come clean on waste disposal, according to Bigombe.

“The lake is a heritage and also provides fish, which is a source of food and foreign exchange,” says Bigombe.

Mutagamba pointed out that people have lost personal respect and the commitment to protect the environment has waned. She wants the titles issued by the lands ministry in wetlands cancelled.

Florence Ekwau Ibi, the Woman MP for Kaberamaido, shot at Mutagamba, saying the enforcement mechanisms of the Government were equally to blame. “As Parliament we have made the necessary laws. What else do you want us to do?”

Mugisha Shillingi, a director in the environment ministry, pointed out that the funding to environment is like dressing a big person in undersized coat. He says the environment is the mother of the other sectors of the economy and that it should be given higher priority for the economy to thrive.

Kitamirike warns that the degradation of the swamps on the northern banks of Lake Victoria and the upcoming industrial estate at Namanve is going to worsen pollution at the bay.

“It is too costly to clean out the waste in the lake and it is imperative to make industries comply,” he says.