Due to the reluctance of the government of Uganda, Lake Victoria, the largest East Africa’s freshwater body is suffering marked pollution.
Several wetlands around Lake Victoria have been destroyed over the years due
Industries and settlements in the wetlands have destroyed the ecosystem that used to filter the waste from the city before the water enters the lake.
The colour of the lake water has changed to green as algae and other impurities take over the water surface. If no action is taken, the situation is most likely to worsen.
The heavy pollution has increased the costs of treating and purifying water to make it
suitable for human consumption according to the National Water and Sewerage Corporation
(NWSC) officials.
Mr Frank Muramuzi, the executive director of NAPE, said that It’s the responsibility of
the government to take a preventive measure since it’s the one which allows industries
near the lake and also gives them permission to put up facilities.
"Talks have been done but no change and so a decisive action has to be taken with the efforts of the president and his ministers," Muramuzi added.
Dr Tom Okurut, the executive director of National Environmental Management
Authority argued that lake pollution is due to rural-urban migration.
He said that as many people move from the villages to the city, they are not directed on where to settle and many end up occupying the wetlands which puts a strain on the existing wetlands around Lake Victoria. The issues of investors also coming to the wetlands is part of the concern,” he said.
To curb the lake pollution, NEMA officials have canceled the land titles of industries and settlements so as discourage encroachment on the wetlands.
“We have stopped so many projects. Even the cancellation of land titles in wetlands and
forest reserves were initiated by Nema because we needed to remove the illusion that
people are entitled to settling in wetlands,” Dr Okurut added.
The lake, east Africa’s largest by area, also supplies water to millions in neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania and supports fishing communities in all three countries.
Gerald Sawula, deputy executive director of Uganda’s state-run National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), told Reuters that the lake’s Murchison Bay, the northerly inlet on which Kampala sits, was becoming a “dead” zone.
“It is a real crisis, the water has turned completely green with algae blooms swamping the whole place,” he said.
Massive sensitization has been carried out across the country. Environmental degradation can only end when citizens are enlightened about it. This will enable people to develop a positive attitude to save the lake and wetlands.
In February, the Ministry Of Lands canceled 300 land titles that were issued in the wetlands after the enforcement of the 1995 constitutional law. In 2018, NEMA cancelled more than 600 titles that were issued in wetlands in Kampala, located in Ntinda, Kinawataka, Kyambogo, Bukoto.
Currently, the greatest challenge is on how to save Bugolobi wetland which has been sub-
divided and people are purchasing the land. The wetland in this posh suburb is a very
important catchment area and NEMA will do everything to protect it.
Nema has stopped issuing permits to industries in wetlands and the owners are being told to construct pre-treatment facilities to treat waste before disposing it into the lake.
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