Kampala gets new sewerage network

Inspection. National Water and Sewerage Corporation technical team inspects the Kinawataka sewerage treatment plant in Butabika yesterday. PHOTO BY STEPHEN OATGE

What you need to know:

  • About the plant. The new treatment plant in Butabika at the tail end of the Kinawataka swamp covers a 30-kilometre network of sewerage pipes.
  • Cost. The construction of the sewerage plant cost Shs44 trillion.

Kampala. National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) has asked property owners whose buildings are not connected to its network to apply for connection to the new sewerage line.

Addressing journalists at Kinawataka sewerage pre-treatment plant yesterday, Mr Christopher Ebal, the NWSC board chairman, said the new plant will serve the eastern part of Kampala covering Ntinda, Kyambogo University, Minister’s Village Ntinda, Butabika and Nakawa industrial area before pumping back the sewage to the Bugolobi main plant for natural bio-treatment.

Appeal
“We want more people to get connected to the network because our operational capacity is nine million litres of water per day but currently, we are processing only 2.5 million. This is an environmentally friendly plant,” he said.

Asked whether the new network will control the flooding which is common in areas of Banda, Kyambogo and Lugogo, Mr Johnson Amayo, the NWSC deputy managing director in-charge-of technical services, explained that the flooding will continue because there is no connection between the sewerage network and the open drainage channels which have become narrower due adverse weather and unpredictable amount of rainfall.

“You cannot combine sewerage with storm water which runs in open drainage channels. We are collecting sewerage from the toilets, waste water from the industries in Nakawa which we pump here for treatment,” he said.

The new treatment plant in Butabika at the tail end of the Kinawataka swamp covering a 30 kilometre network of sewerage pipes, was constructed at a cost of Shs44 trillion as part of the Lake Victoria Environment Management Programme which covers the Bugolobi treatment plant as well.