River Mpanga pollution leaves residents thirsty

George Akuguzibwe is a sand and stone miner in the hilly Karangura areas in Kabarole District. He is the chairman of Karangura Stone Quarry, a group of 50 members mining stones and sand upstream of River Mpanga.
“We have been in this business since 1990, through which I have managed to educate my children,” he proudly says. Akuguzibwe thinks his job is solving a bigger problem that people face during the rainy season.

“During the mining, we de-silt (scooping sand in the river) the river and this stops it from bursting its banks during the rainy season,” he explains.
Asked whether he and his colleagues know that what they are doing is affecting the river, especially the flora and fauna downstream, Akuguzibwe says: “Yes, we know, but government does not help us. If government gives us an alternative economic activity, we can abandon this one.”
River Mpanga flows from the Rwenzori mountains through the districts of Kabarole, Kyenjojo and Kamwenge and then feeds into Lake George.

However, during the rainy season, the colour of the water from the river turns dark brown as a result of siltation due to sand and stone mining on its banks upstream in Karangura.
“River Mpanga is the major source of water for people around it, including National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) and once the river is polluted, people who use its water for drinking risk getting water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid,” Lieven Peeters, the coordinator of Protos, an NGO, says.
Protos and Natural Resources Defence Initiatives (NRDI) are non-governmental organisations dedicated to better water management.
Officials at NWSC plant in Fort Portal say in the last six years, water treatment costs have tripled as they use more chemicals than before to purify the water, according to Denis Muramuzi, the NWSC Fort Portal branch manager.

NWSC has more than 7,000 water connections (households) in Fort Portal town alone and of late, consumers have complained of the colour of the water pumped into their homes.
Nyakato Rusoke, a resident of Fort Portal Town, recently shared her frustration about the quality of the water with the public when she posted on social media: “I collected water from a tap this early morning and I thought I would use it to prepare breakfast. What I saw defeated my understanding! Why should consumers part with their hard earned money to pay for such dirty water? In my lay man’s view, this water is not fit to even be used in a toilet, because it will leave it stained! I have observed this for some time.”

The source area in the Rwenzori mountains is currently under high pressure mainly due to deforestation on the slopes. Loss of tree cover is leading to important changes in the river bank characteristics and has started to impact on the river itself.
“Loss of tree cover upstream causes run off that results into siltation of the river and the lake downstream,” observes Peeters.
He adds: “Of recent, there has been an increase in the number permanent houses near the river, car washing bays, sand mining activities, brick laying and crop production on the river beds, all of which cause silting of the river.”
In Fort Portal Town, washing bays have been established just 20 metres from the river banks as opposed to the recommended 200 metres.

This allows oils and other chemicals from the vehicles to pour into the river, thereby contaminating the water.
Pit-latrines at Mpanga Market in Fort Portal Town were constructed along the river, allowing faecal matter to spill directly into the river whenever it rains, making the water unfit for consumption.
The degradation of the river is also threatening the power production at the Mpanga hydropower plant downstream at Mpanga Falls as water levels fluctuate.
Lake George at the downstream faces several serious threats related to the rivers flowing into it and the management of its fisheries resource.

Residents of all fishing villages around Lake George say the water level of the lake has been going down over the years.
Nicholas Kabagambe, the secretary of Kayinja Beach Management Unit at Lake George, says: “The fish breading grounds at the shores of Lake George have been affected due to siltation, so we are have been experiencing less fish catch over the last three or so years.”
Victoria Birungi who sells fish at Katunguru Trading Centre in Kasese District, shares the same story.
“In the past (2011), I used to buy between 200 and 300 fresh fish from the landing sites but now I get just between 30 and 50 fish because of pollution of the fish breeding grounds on Lake George,” she says.

Interventions

Of late, the ministry of Water and Environment, in partnership with Protos, has stepped up measures to save and protect river Mpanga. The authorities prepared a catchment management plan (CMP), which aims at creating public awareness on the importance of conserving the environment.
According to Edgar Muganzi, the coordinator of Natural Resources Defence Initiatives, the plan involves replacement of eucalyptus trees upstream with more appropriate trees like Grevillia robusta.

“We are replacing eucalyptus trees with fruit trees, sensitising communities, regulating washing bays and demarcating the buffer zones,” he says.
Fort Portal Municipal Council has also launched alternative packaging materials in order to stop polluting the river with polythene bags.

The Water ministry has also formed Albert Water Management Zone as one of the initiatives to save the river Its team leader, Mr Albert Orijabo, says: “Some interventions upstream include sorting waste and conservation preparations of tree nursery beds and sensitising the communities.” He adds: “Downstream in Kamwenge District, we have established fish ponds in Mutamba wetland to protect the Mutamba wetland system with the aim of enticing the communities to see the wetland as a resource.”
However, the Kabarole District environment officer, Godfrey Ruyonga, says law enforcement and monitoring, among other interventions to protect River Mpanga, have been affected by politics. “There is a lot of political interference that brings down enforcement, especially in the upstream area. Some politicians advise people against giving up sand mining,” he says.