City Faces Health Hazard â€" Miyingo

By Gerald TenywaTHE Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Kezimbira Miyingo, has warned that Kampala’s population faces health hazards if encroachment on the Nakivubo wetlands is not halted.Speaking at the official launching of efforts to gazette Nakivubo wetland as a protected area on Friday, Miyingo said the wetland purifies effluents. Nakivubo treats sewerage from the National Water and Sewerage Corporation and wastes discharged by industries.But the Nakivubo wetland, which connects Kampala city to the inner Murchison Bay, a water source for Kampala, is threatened by drainage for agriculture, housing and industrialisation. The wetland was 4.8 square km but has reduced to less than 1.3 square km.Paul Mafabi, the assistant commissioner of wetlands inspection division, said a legal instrument was being prepared for the wetland to be protected. “The Minister of Water, Lands and the Environment will declare the wetlands a protected area,’’ he said. Miyingo was alarmed by the fact that yams, which don’t have the capacity to filter and retain the wastes in the water, have replaced large expanses of papyrus, a vegetation characterising many wetlands.Ends