UCU gets $300,000 plant to recycle water from sewage
Oct 02, 2006
Who would imagine that sewage could be recycled? That smelly, dirty water flushed from the toilets and bathrooms?
By Carol Natukunda
Who would imagine that sewage could be recycled? That smelly, dirty water flushed from the toilets and bathrooms?
Strange as it would seem, Uganda Christian University, Mukono (UCU) has commissioned a water treatment plant to ensure that wastewater is recycled.
The plant, worth $300,000, is the first of its kind in Uganda. About $200,000 of this was funded by the Diocese of Sydney’s Overseas Relief and Aid Fund.
The plant uses a biological process to treat the sewage, producing clean water and manure as the end products. The plant has the capacity to handle sewage of over 8,000 people.
“The plant will be used to transform the university’s sewage into water and manure. The water will be used to irrigate plants and the compound while the manure will be used at the university’s farm in Ntawo,†says Vincent Magaba, the university spokesperson.
After the commissioning, Prof. Steve Riley, the team leader of the project, said a considerable amount of water would be saved.
“We will be able to treat about 350 cubic metres on average. There is often so much wastage; consider a kid who just goes to the bathroom and leaves the tap flowing for more than an hour; or that kid who keeps flushing the toilet time and again,†he says.
Riley says water treatment plants are common in the developed countries that are over populated.
“We have to be responsible in the management of our lives,†Riley says. The plant is environmentally-friendly and we hope that in the long run, it will be used as a research and training facility for this and other universities,†he says.
The process of treatment, Riley says, occurs in the septic systems. The wastewater goes to the equalisation tanks and an hour later, it is pumped into the aeration tank.
“Wastewater provides a source for the production of micro-organisms like bacteria. The bacteria break down the waste and consumes it. But it requires a mixture of oxygen into it. We give it time to stabilise, say about eight hours. Otherwise, no other chemicals are added into it,†Riley explains.
 “Generators are used run the pumps and air mixing. The system produces a liquid that is safer than what runs out of septic tanks, so it can be spread on the ground. It has no smell. Trees were planted around the plant to look more attractive and blow away any smells .â€
Mugaba says the project will also be a useful scientific installation for the university when it starts engineering programmes in future.
Who would imagine that sewage could be recycled? That smelly, dirty water flushed from the toilets and bathrooms?
Strange as it would seem, Uganda Christian University, Mukono (UCU) has commissioned a water treatment plant to ensure that wastewater is recycled.
The plant, worth $300,000, is the first of its kind in Uganda. About $200,000 of this was funded by the Diocese of Sydney’s Overseas Relief and Aid Fund.
The plant uses a biological process to treat the sewage, producing clean water and manure as the end products. The plant has the capacity to handle sewage of over 8,000 people.
“The plant will be used to transform the university’s sewage into water and manure. The water will be used to irrigate plants and the compound while the manure will be used at the university’s farm in Ntawo,†says Vincent Magaba, the university spokesperson.
After the commissioning, Prof. Steve Riley, the team leader of the project, said a considerable amount of water would be saved.
“We will be able to treat about 350 cubic metres on average. There is often so much wastage; consider a kid who just goes to the bathroom and leaves the tap flowing for more than an hour; or that kid who keeps flushing the toilet time and again,†he says.
Riley says water treatment plants are common in the developed countries that are over populated.
“We have to be responsible in the management of our lives,†Riley says. The plant is environmentally-friendly and we hope that in the long run, it will be used as a research and training facility for this and other universities,†he says.
The process of treatment, Riley says, occurs in the septic systems. The wastewater goes to the equalisation tanks and an hour later, it is pumped into the aeration tank.
“Wastewater provides a source for the production of micro-organisms like bacteria. The bacteria break down the waste and consumes it. But it requires a mixture of oxygen into it. We give it time to stabilise, say about eight hours. Otherwise, no other chemicals are added into it,†Riley explains.
 “Generators are used run the pumps and air mixing. The system produces a liquid that is safer than what runs out of septic tanks, so it can be spread on the ground. It has no smell. Trees were planted around the plant to look more attractive and blow away any smells .â€
Mugaba says the project will also be a useful scientific installation for the university when it starts engineering programmes in future.