The price we pay for poisoning L.Victoria

KAMPALA- Lake Victoria is rotting from the depths and unless a drastic step is taken to save it, its water will continue to remain unsafe for human consumption.

On a daily basis, dirty water coupled with a stench from Kampala town snakes its way through Kansanga and ends up in Lake Victoria at Ggaba. In the northern part of the city, Nakivubo channel also pours the dirt at Luzira.

At Ggaba, the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) runs three water treatment plants, Ggaba 1, 2 and 3, pumping about 150 million litres of water daily to supply the greater Kampala Metropolitan area.

The water is drawn from the lake’s Murchison Bay and two other spots before being treated for consumption. Heavy pollution of the lake has over the years bloated the cost of treating the water.

While the NWSC is working to ensure that the population has access to clean and safe water, results of the research showed the presence of microbiological and chemical contamination at the various sampling points in the lake.

According to the findings, there is heavy presence of coliforms at counts above the Nema 3rd schedule on recommendations for discharge to the environment.

Officials from the NWSC say the increasing levels of the pollution have more than doubled the cost of treating water at the Ggaba water station.
They add that with expected completion of the Katosi water project, the cost may rise further.
Heavy industries located on the shores of the lake discharge untreated effluents that end up in the lake. Gardens and farms on the banks also discharge fertilisers into the water body.

Human waste, especially from people living on islands and fishermen, has worsened the situation.
A Ministry of Health report on waterborne disease burden states that over the last few decades, the main disease outbreaks have been cholera, typhoid and Hepatitis E.

According to the ministry, the main underlying factors to the outbreaks have been inadequate access to safe water, water contamination and poor safe disposal of faecal matter.

Mr Andrew Muhwezi, the senior production manager at NWSC based at the Ggaba treatment plant, says pollution is a big challenge.
Mr Muhwezi says the costs of treating the water has risen and expects it to continue if no drastic measure is taken to save the lake.
“Pollution has affected us in several ways. We use chemicals to treat the water to make it suitable for human consumption. The amount of chemicals has gone up because of pollution, and this has increased costs,” he says.

“Ten years ago, we used to pay an average of Shs750 million a month on chemicals. Now, we had to introduce more effective chemicals, the coagulants, which remove the dirt in the water, and we upgraded the chemicals that remove the dirt. As a result, our chemical costs have increased. To date, we are talking about a bill of Shs1.3b to Shs1.5b per month,” he adds.

Mr Muhwezi says while the entity has doubled production over the years, the biggest impact has been registered in the procurement of coagulants.

“Pollution is responsible for about Shs500m, but the other increment can be attributed to the increase of volume we are delivering because between now and 10 years ago, our production has gone up from about Shs700 million to Shs1.3 billion, Shs200m is due to increase in production and the rest is the figure we had before,” he says.

Prior to 2008, NWSC had extraction point at Murchison Bay where they got water for treatment.
Mr Muhwezi, however, says because of the pollution, it became difficult to get cleaner water from the point, forcing them to go deeper into the lakes.

He says previously, the extraction points were in the closed bay. However, the challenge, he adds, is that if they are polluted unlike open water, you do not have the advantage of mixing the water because of the wind and changes in temperatures.

“If you are in a closed bay, you do not have that advantage and, therefore, you abstract what is there. This was the challenge with the previous abstraction point. Because of the increase in pollution load in the Murchison bay, it was becoming difficult,” he says.

Mr Muhwezi also says in 2007, the water levels were down and the traditional water pipes that were used to extract water were just a few hundred centimetres close to the surface and, therefore, when pollution set in large volumes, it became difficult to get clean water.

“It was becoming difficult to treat the water, the treatment units were not upgraded to adapt to the changing pollution. The major intervention in the short term was to extend the abstraction pipes to get where there is a cleaner source of water in Lake Victoria, so we sank in 7.2 million Euros to extend the abstraction pipes of the sewer lines into the open waters,” he adds.
The destruction of the wetlands around Lake Victoria, Mr Muhwezi says, has also contributed to pollution.

“The source is everywhere, the city pollutes, everybody is a participant, but what has accelerated pollution is mainly the destruction of wetlands, which have previously been the key in helping filter the waste water before it gets into the lake,” he says.

The senior water production manager, however, says despite the challenges, the corporation is committed to supplying clean water.
Asked about what assurance he gives to the public about the quality of water supplied amid the pollution levels, he says the treatment process is thorough.

“We have one of the best treatment systems available in the market. We have highly specialised equipment to test for both chemical and biological impurities. We also test for presence of heavy metals and all our results conform to the best global standards. So the water we supply is clean because it undergoes thorough quality control,” Mr Muhwezi says.
Ms Sharon Gubamoyo, the water quality and environmental specialist at NWSC, says they are very strict and thorough with what they supply to the population.

Ms Gubamoyo says between 30 minutes and one hour, they would have performed so many specialised procedures before water is ready for consumption.

“We do different things along the chain and our last is the disinfection stage where we kill all the germs in the water to make it clean for consumption. After this stage, we pump the water for the public to use. So our system is thorough,” she adds.

Nema protests findings on L. Victoria pollution

The National Environment Management Authority (Nema) has denied that Lake Victoria is polluted and its water is unsafe for human consumption. The environmental agency yesterday said while the lake may be contaminated, it has not reached the level of being polluted.

Dr Tom Okurut, the Nema executive director, said government is constantly monitoring the lake, adding that there is no cause for alarm.
“The water is safe although it may be dirty. The fish is safe,” Dr Okurut said.

The response came after Nation Media Group started running series of research on pollution of Lake Victoria which is shared by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

The findings showed that there are traces of heavy metals detected in the fish species tested both in Uganda and Kenya, including lead detected at volumes above CODEX (FAO/WHO) permitted maximum residue levels. It also showed presence of globally banned pesticides, pointing to the fact that such pesticides could be illegally entering the region.

However, Nema contested the findings. “There are a lot of rivers that come into the lake and they come with a force. That force causes the lake to mix and be active. Because of that, it is able to rid itself of whatever it does not want and it is able to provide for the things that depend on it,” Dr Okurut said.

Above all it has not reached the carrying capacity where you can now call it pollution, we just have pockets of contaminations of the lake along the bays,” Okurut said.

His stance seems to contradict several reports that have pointed to pollution of the lake. He said while impurities are deposited in the lake, most of it comes from urban centres as opposed to the industries.

Last year, Uganda Manufacturers Association commissioned a research whose outcomes indicated that industries around Nakawa and Namanve were the biggest polluters of Lake Victoria.

The NMG-commissioned research also found that there are traces of globally banned pesticide that were detected in the waters of Lake Victoria and the catchment areas.

Endosulfan which was also found in the waters was globally banned in 2012. It is an insecticide and a known neurotoxic and causes birth defects. It has ability to bio-accumulate. Another banned pesticide detected in the lake is mirex which is also a bio accumulator and persists in the environment as a persistent organic pollutant thus affecting aquatic life. It’s carcinogenic, with potential to cause cancer and an endocrine disruptor.

Up to 21 different pesticides including organochlorines, organophosphates and pyrethroids were detected in Lake Victoria at different concentrations and frequencies in the water samples.

The research also found other pesticides which are of known toxicity to both humans and aquatic life including Fenitrothion, an organophosphate used as insecticide and is toxic to aquatic life; chlorofenvinphos which affects human respiratory system; cyhalothrin which causes irritation of the mucous membrane, bifenthrin which is very harmful to aquatic life and is capable of causing cancer.
However Mr Okurut cast doubt of the findings on account that all the East African countries have banned use of pesticides like DDT from entering the region.

“There is no country in East Africa where DDT is allowed because it is banned. So how did that DDT come when it is banned? We could have used DDT to spray locusts, but it is not allowed,” he said.
However he admitted that if it is true the pesticide traces are in the lake, they could have been those that were sprayed before the ban.
“That is something we need to find out. Could it be those that were sprayed some time back? We can’t rule that,” he conceded.
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