Kampala residents caught between lake and the sewer
Kampala is sitting on a sewerage system that has not expanded in over 40 years and now threatens to dangerously pollute Lake Victoria, a key source of the city’s water supply, according to the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NW&SC).
According to NW&SC, Kampala is one large open sewer that has turned Nakivubo channel – originally intended to help drain rain and flood water out of the city – into a carrier of waste and industrial effluent emissions into the lake.
Only eight per cent of the city has access to the sewerage lines, and a functional sewerage system exists mainly within the old and settled residential areas so when the rest of the city flushes, it does so directly into the lake. Most of Kampala’s residents do not have access to a flush toilet.
