{UAH} Kampala city homes floating on sewerage - National

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Kampala city homes floating on sewerage - National

It was just normal water, they thought. This was in November but by evening, it had gone. A month later, the water reappeared. This time round, the water did not go. The residents of Bukasa zone in Makindye Division have lived with this water inside their houses for more than six months now. There is no indication that it will recede soon.

One of the residents, Mr John Okalany, told Sunday Monitor that the water suddenly surged into their houses and gradually spread to more homesteads in his neighbourhood by the third month.

Like his colleagues, he did not have money for rent. So he evacuated his family to a relative's home but stayed behind to reduce on the upkeep expenses.

Coexistence
"I can't believe I have lived with water, frogs and fish in and around my house for six months. It is the first time it is happening since I settled here. I was patient at first and hoped the water would go but it has not.

Gumboots have become part of me since December but my children could not handle," said the distraught Okalany when Sunday Monitor visited his home near Nakivubo wetland recently.

He said he bought the plot in the wetland at Shs2 million in 2000 because that money could not buy a similar plot in a better place. He later built a Shs25m house on it.

Sixteen years later, more houses have come up, exerting pressure on the wetland. Agricultural activities such as sugarcane, yams and beans growing have escalated the problem.

Industries such as Pipeline Design have also been constructed, meaning the wetland's capacity to hold water and sieve it before it is drained into the lake, has been severely reduced.

Mr Okalany's house is still submerged in water.
A guided tour around the Nakivubo channel stretch with Bukasa zone LC1 chairperson, Mr Francis Nsonzi and two other male residents last weekend, proved that Kampala is floating on a mass of waste water.

Mr Nsonzi said more than 100 homes have been affected with this water.
A section of the Inner Murchison Bay, especially behind Luzira prison, is now a dead zone. A lot of solid waste such as polythene bags and plastic water bottles deposited in the wetland have clogged the drainage system and diverted the sewerage flow from Nakivubo channel into Lake Victoria.

The channel, which carries sewerage and untreated factory wastewater from surrounding industries, has burst its banks. The wastewater has mainly spilled into the neighbourhoods, as well as into Lake Victoria unfiltered. The vegetation where this water has settled has changed from its natural green to yellowish colour, a sign of withering up.

Another resident, Michael Ochaya, said they had contacted Makindye Division administration for intervention but nothing has been done.
"They have taken long without opening the channel. The town sewerage water is flowing into our homes. I have been to Makindye Division but they always tell me the tractors have not been repaired," Mr Ochaya said.

Mr Peter Kaujju, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) spokesperson did not respond to the residents' complaints when Sunday Monitor contacted him for close to two weeks.
Algae is floating on the Nakivubo channel and exudes a foul smell from accumulated sludge in the water. The stench has attracted swarms of flies, which have turned the swamp into a breeding ground, exposing the residents to a health hazard.

Mr Nsonzi said the Bukasa residents and neighbouring Muyenga have been living with the flies since February.
"The problem is bigger. There are many houses which have been flooded with water. The channel is blocked with stinking waste. I am sure government can upgrade the wetland like they did in Owino," Mr Nsonzi said.

Nakivubo wetland is one of the biggest in Kampala, covering 5.29 square kilometres but has shrunk to about 2.5sq km in the last two decades. It lies between Bugolobi, Mpanga and Muyenga hills. It is the only channel carrying water from Kampala Central Business District into Lake Victoria.
Between 1995 and 2010, wetlands in Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso shrank by 14per cent.

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