Farming lowers Mt Elgon water quality, levels
BY DAVID MAFABI
KAMPALA. Ms Angella Nabukwasi scooped water from River Soloko at the slopes of Mt Elgon and she noticed two things about the water; it smells like sewage and it is brownish.
KAMPALA. Ms Angella Nabukwasi scooped water from River Soloko at the slopes of Mt Elgon and she noticed two things about the water; it smells like sewage and it is brownish.
In
River Sisiyi, another river that flows from Mt Elgon, Mr Samson Wedala also
noticed that the water was dirty and turned brown.
In
Manafwa district, Ms Caroline Nakwekwe from Bududa district says the water from
River Manafwa has also changed the colour and it is smelly sometimes.
And
more than that the water from these rivers has black sand particles and dead
algae which makes it emit a pungent smell.
This
has caused great concern about its effect on the hygiene of the people who live
around and below this mountain.
Mr
Samson Wedala says the dirt in the water is worsening so fast and that it could
soon be a problem to the people if not treated before drinking in the homes.
“I
noticed this dirt in water some 10 years ago but I took it as a usual thing but
it could be brown in the day and very clear in the morning so it could confuse
us,” said Mr Wedala, a resident of Zesui in Sironko district living along River
Soloko.
Mr
Moses Chepkurui, 49, a resident of Kapneibei village in Kapchesombe sub-county,
Kapchorwa district, said the river Atari from Mt Elgon in Kapchorwa district started
changing colour in 1995.
“When people settled along the banks and started farming at the banks the water became dirty. We stopped fetching drinking water from the river, we resorted to getting water from unprotected wells within this area for fear of contracting diseases,” said Mr Chepkurui.
“When people settled along the banks and started farming at the banks the water became dirty. We stopped fetching drinking water from the river, we resorted to getting water from unprotected wells within this area for fear of contracting diseases,” said Mr Chepkurui.
Reports
from local residents indicate that the brown colour of the water worsens during
the rainy seasons.
Like
other Rivers in Mt Elgon sub-region [Kapchorwa, Kween, Bukwo, Bulambuli,
Sironko, Mbale, Manafwa, Bududa districts], River Ataari that originates from
Mt. Elgon, flows through the slopes of Mt Elgon and pour their waters into Lake
Kyoga.
The
Bulambuli District Health Officer Mr Muhammed Mulongo said the water is not
safe for drinking and that the waters have been the cause of Cholera and other
diseases in Mt Elgon sub-region.
He
said although our grandparents used to drink water from Mt Elgon without
treating it or boiling it since it was not contaminated, today it is very risky
to drink the water without treatment because it is dirty.
“And
I want to ask people to treat the water or boil it before drinking it to avoid
risk of contracting water borne diseases like Bilharzia, Typhoid, Cholera,
dysentery and diarrhea,” said Dr Mulongo.
He
explained that nobody was staying in the hills close to water sources and that
nobody was doing farming in the hills and along the banks of these rivers to
contaminate the waters.
Mr
Charles Wakube, the environment officer for Mbale district says what makes the water dirty is continued to
use of globally outlawed chemicals that endanger humans and the environment by
the encroachers.
Mr
Wakube said the water levels
of Rivers Ataari, Soloko, Manafwa. Tsutsu, Mahapa, Sipi, Namatyale, Wukha,
Kado, have gone down due to human settlement and cultivation along the banks
and that the water that was previously clear has changed to brown.
Ms
Sarah Bisikwa, the Manafwa district environment officer said science experts
have detected deadly chemicals in water collected from Mt Elgon.
"A
number of banned agro chlorinated pesticides such as DDT, endosulfan, dieldrin
and lindane that are used by the people living around Mt Elgon have been
detected in the water showing that they may be in use," Ms Bisikwa said.
"And
do you know that people defecate, wash, bathe from the rivers with soap and
leave dirty water flowing,?" added Ms Bisikwa.
She
said most of the chemicals, also known as persistent organic pollutants (POP),
are listed under the Stockholm Convention as the dirty dozen because they
persist in the environment and threaten human health.
Environmentalists
and scientists say encroachment for farming and settlement at the Mt Elgon are
the factors affecting the water.
Ms
Bisikwa pointed out that Bugisu, Bukedi and Sebei sub-regions’ fertile soils
are being eroded to river Nile, Lake Kyoga and various swamps in the low land
areas without control because of the destruction of the vegetation cover at Mt
Elgon national park areas.
She
said most of the chemicals, also known as persistent organic pollutants (POP),
are listed under the Stockholm Convention as the dirty dozen because they
persist in the environment and threaten human health.
Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international environmental
treaty, signed in 2001 and effective from May 2004, that aims to eliminate or
restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
The
Mt Elgon conservation area manager Mr Fred Kizza warned of
impending "human catastrophe" if the districts surrounding Mt Elgon
do not seek measures to address the increasing degradation of the natural
environment.
“People see natural resources as free and
God-given and think God will care for them. Just look at a case of a pastor in
Manafwa who quotes the Bible and says these the end times that is why the
environment is degrading and that nobody is responsible but natural factors,”
said Mr Kizza.
According
to Mr Kizza, a total of about 4 million people living around Mt Elgon and in
the neighborhood who use Water from Mt Elgon are at risk of water borne
diseases if efforts are not made to control water pollution.
Mr
Kizza says UWA field work survey reports and research indicate that the
encroachment has soared to about 25,000 hectares as far as high altitude plants
called Lubelia signaling great danger of environmental catastrophe for Pallisa,
Budaka, Busia, Kibuku, Tororo, Bukedea and Butaleja districts, which are found
in the plains.
“Actually,
people are supposed to stop settlement and farming far about 10sqKm away from
the slopes but they have gone beyond this to the level that Malewa is also
facing extinction,” said Mr Kizza.
According to Mr Kizza, the forest soils have adequate minerals in protecting natural organic
materials to maintain and improve vegetation growth,
water functions, nutrients cycling and slope stability but that all the soil
have lost their properties because of encroachment
“There
is a need to get people to know how their actions are connected to the mountain
and rivers that flow from the mountain,” Mr Kizza argues.
Mr
Kizza says Mt Elgon zone districts used to receive rainfall as early as late
January but that ever since encroachment soared up, the rainfall patterns have
reduced, streams have dried and big rivers have turned into streams.
The districts that surround Mt Elgon and benefit from Mt Elgon
national park as a water catchment area include Kapchorwa, Bukwo, Kween,
Sironko, Mbale, Manafwa, Bulambuli, Bududa, Kumi, Tororo, Butaleja, Budaka,
Kibuku,Bukedea, Busia and Pallisa.
The MP for
Manjiya County in Bududa district Mr John Baptist Nambeshe said there is very
high bio-chemical accumulation due to massive encroachment, farming and
settlement which also pauses great danger to the entire bio-diversity
"This
massive encroachment at Mt Elgon national park coupled with
deforestation, poor farming methods signals an environmental disaster for the
region. Government and the local residents should design ways of ending
encroachment and degradation at Mt Elgon in order to save our people from
famine, diseases, landslides and earthquakes," said Mr Nambeshe, the MP
for Manjiya County which is prone mudslides.
The
preliminary geo-technical study of disaster-prone Mt Elgon by experts also
reveals that people living on the slopes of Mt Elgon are at great risk as the
dead volcanic mountain has developed bigger cracks, caused by heavy
deforestation, poor methods of farming and poor land management around the
mountain.
Population pressures
The
National Environment and Management Authority (NEMA) and Uganda Wildlife
Authority have warned that small mud flows seen on the mountain, with many
water openings, is an indication that the rocks are under tension and that some
small cracks formed due to bad farming practices, foot paths as well as road
construction on the slopes, make the area waters dirty.
The
state minister for environment Dr Goretti Kitutu, said because of the ever
increasing population, people have encroached on the forest cover on the
mountain for settlement and economic activities, loosening the soils.
Dr
Kitutu said most people on the Mt Elgon National Park are ignorant of the
environmental problems associated with massive encroachment.
“We
need to tell our people about the dangers of encroachment, farming and settlement
on the waters of Mt Elgon,” said Dr Kitutu.
A
study carried out by UWA in 2013 indicates that although most rivers that flow
from Mt Elgon national park are drying up, the water from most of the rivers is
now unsafe for consumption once untreated.
An
ecological study on the Water quality analysis from selected rivers at Mt Elgon
national park signed by Mr. David Ogaram for Mbale area water manager then also
says massive encroachment beyond the bamboo zone were endangering the
ecological functions of Mt.Elgon at a great rate.
"We
took water samples from rivers inside the park, park boundary and outside the
park for Physico-chemical and bacterial examination and it was deduced that due
to massive encroachment, farming and settlement the rivers had a high number of
dissolved solids that contaminated the waters," reads the report in part
dated August 2012.
The
report says that River Manafwa that supplies water to Mbale municipality,
Tororo, Mbale and Butaleja was the most contaminated water with a total of 59.7
mg per litre total dissolved solids while Chebonet River in Kapchorwa stood at
22 mg/litre, Sisiyi stood at 25.3 mg/litre while Soloko River was at
32.3mg/litre.
Reports
at UWA also reveal that the water colour, turbidity, electrical conductivity,
Alkalinity, hardness, iron content and manganese content have also been
affected greatly.
The
other affected rivers are Lwakhakha [Manafwa], Soloko [Sironko], Sipi
[Kapchorwa], Sisiyi [Bulambuli], Kapsokoy [Kapchorwa] and Ririma [Manafwa] all
of which originate from Mt Elgon.
Dr
Gideon Wamasebu, the DHO Manafwa says that the greed and reckless nature of
human activities at Mt Elgon water catchment area is killing the rivers.
“Algae
you see under the water and black particles are symptoms of heavy pollution and
silting, the algae can disappear with time but leaves disastrous effects,” said
Dr Wamsebu.
Dr.
Tom Okurut, the executive director of the NEMA blames primitive and harmful
agricultural practices and indiscriminate felling of trees as some of the destructive
activities that expose the land to erosive agents like rain, which wash the
soils into the rivers resulting into silting.
Dr
Okurut said restricted chemicals being used by untrained persons at the
mountain like DDT could be the cause of the dirty water.
“The
greatest factors contributing to dirty water at Mt Elgon can be summed up into
poverty, apathy, ignorance, unsustainable population growth and weak law
enforcement,” said Dr Okurut.
He
said without putting communities in the right place, the country is going to
lose this water catchment mountain supplying millions of people in Uganda and
Kenya and the livelihood of 20 million people in East Africa who depend on it
directly and indirectly. Ends
Mt Elgon is vital to the social and economic functioning of
the area, and is a water catchment supplying millions of people in Uganda and
Kenya (van Heist, 1994). It is also an important area for species conservation
due to the richness of endemic plant and animal species which can be found on
the mountain (Howard, 1991).
