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Kawempe division overwhelms sewerage plant
The Ggaba water treatment plant. Photo/File
What you need to know:
- “Lubigi [treatment plant] is overwhelmed by the number of trucks taking waste water for treatment. We are treating some of the sewerage from Bugolobi [plant]. This site was identified 15 years ago to support Lubigi [plant],” he told journalists ,” Mr Mahmood Lutaaya, the general manager for Kampala water
The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) says they have been forced to transport some of the waste collected at the Lubigi sewerage plant to Bugolobi, a Kampala suburb, for treatment due to high volumes.
Speaking during a stakeholder engagement meeting with leaders from Rubaga Division, Kampala, last Friday, Mr Mahmood Lutaaya, the general manager for Kampala Water, said they have been forced to deploy trucks to transport sewerage from Lubigi to Bugolobi sewerage treatment plant because the 1,500 cubic litres treatment plant cannot sustain treating all the sewerage collected at the site.
“Lubigi [treatment plant] is overwhelmed by the number of trucks taking waste water for treatment. We are treating some of the sewerage from Bugolobi [plant]. This site was identified 15 years ago to support Lubigi [plant],” he told journalists during a tour of the new sewerage treatment plant in Nalukolongo.
Mr Lutaaya explained that the Nalukolono wastewater treatment site, whose construction started in 2022, is part of the Kampala Waste Water and Sanitation Project meant to address water supply challenges in informal settlements.
He added that NWSC plans to install 2,600 prepaid water meters all over Kampala and the metropolitan area where each meter will be serving 50 homes.
Mr Lutaaya said Rubaga Division already has 300 meters installed and they will be adding another 180.
The project also entails the construction of 60 public toilets in public places such as schools and markets.
The Nalukolongo waste water treatment plant is supposed to treat 400 cubic meters of waste water collected daily from areas of Rubaga, Nansana and Wakiso before it is discharged to the environment.
They authority has plans to establish other sewerage treatment plants in Mukono, Kawuku so as to have a decentralised sewerage treatment system in Kampala Metropolitan Area.
While addressing the residents, Mr Zacchy Mberaze the mayor of Rubaga Division, said much as they welcome and appreciate the project, NWSC and KCCA should address the floods that have been blocked the natural flow of water.
Mr Lutaaya also blamed the affected residents for building houses in wetlands, saying 15 years ago when the site was identified, 80 percent of the wetland wasn’t encroached on unlike today “where encroachers have setup factories and warehouses that occupy almost 70 percent of the wetland’’.
