Kampala City has for long struggled with the challenge of sanitation management.
Key among the challenges the city authorities have to contend with is the issue of how to manage the fecal waste produced by an ever-increasing population most of which has no access to proper toilet or sewerage facilities.
Most the city’s population lives in areas with hardly any toilet facilities and they have to make do with bushes, water channels, swamps and even polythene bags to relieve themselves.
It is against this backdrop that officials from 5 African countries are currently meeting in Kampala under the umbrella of the Africa Water Association to find solutions to continents sanitation management problems, especially in regard to non-sewer and fecal sludge management systems, to help contain any risks of waterborne diseases
According to officials from the National Water and Sewerage Corporation, due to poor planning, Kampala has always faced a challenge of setting efficient sewer lines.
However, works are currently underway to widen the sewage network and fecal sludge management sites around the city.
An example of such a treatment plant that is operating in Uganda is the Lubigi National Water Sewerage Treatment Plant.
Here we found that vehicles containing fecal waste were coming in by the minute and unloading the fecal matter for treatment.
A sewer line system is also in place at this facility that collects sewage from the Kawempe and Rubaga divisions of Kampala.
After treatment, the fecal matter is turned into manure, which is later sold off.
KCCA officials, on the other hand, will soon embark on constructing several pit latrines that meet the required Sanitary standards, in different communities around the city.
The Africa Water Association meeting is expected to go on for 3 more days as stakeholders seek solutions to the issues of maintaining affordable and sustainable sanitation management systems.