Rwanda, Kigali: more connections to sewerage system planned

Kigali Eco-Toilet. Photo: Eugene Dusingizumuremyi / SuSanA

The capital city of Rwanda has turned a delay in funding into an opportunity to revise its plans so that more areas get connected to a new centralised sewerage system. Construction of a US$ 70 million wastewater treatment plant in Giti Cyinyoni, Nyarugenge District, was due to start in 2012 but has been delayed by one year.

The lack of a centralised sewage system in Kigali (pop. 1 million) has been forcing real estate developers to provide onsite sewerage systems for new housing units. Schools, hospitals and other public buildings are already required by law to have their own sewerage systems. In future all these onsite systems will be connected to the new centralised system.

In 2008, according to a survey, 80% of the people in Kigali still used pit latrines [1]. These have proved to be not only hard to maintain, but also expensive to manage in the long run. That’s why the city council recently passed a bylaw that instructs developers to install flush toilets connected to septic tanks.

[1] Hohne, A., 2011. State and drivers of change of Kigali’s sanitation : a demand perspective : paper presented at the East Africa practioners workshop on pro-poor urban sanitation and hygiene, Laico Umbano Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda, March 29th – 31st 2011 . [online] The Hague, The Netherlands: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. Available at: <http://www.irc.nl/page/64586>

Related website: Kigali City – Water and Sanitation Programmes

Source:

• Susan Babijja, City Council reviews sewage management plan, New Times, 26 Oct 2012
• Rwanda: Kigali sewage system delayed by funds, Rwanda Express /  allAfrica.com, 14 Jun 2012
• Eric Didier Karinganire, Sewage in Kigali still an issue of concern, Rwanda Focus, 09 Apr 2012

Kenya, Kibera: “slum survivor” Patrick Mburu still emptying pit latrines to keep his kid in school

Pit latrine emptying in Kibera. Photo: KWAHO

Four years after news agency IRIN released its award-winning documentary film “Slum Survivors”, its makers returned to the Kenyan slum of Kibera to see what had happened to the main characters.

One of the most striking sequences of the film showed Patrick Mburu emptying pit latrine toilets in the dead of night. He did not much care for the job but the money was good and as he put it at the time, “I’ll carry as much shit as it takes to keep my kid in school.”

Four years later Patrick is still emptying toilets and his kid is still in school – and doing quite well by all accounts.

See below the section of “Slum Survivors” that follows Patrick at work at night emptying shared latrines [segment starts at 1.50].

Zambia, Kitwe: Kapoto residents refuse to drink treated water because ‘it can make them impotent’

Residents of Kapoto shanty compound where cholera has broken out in Kitwe have shocked the district administration after they refused to be drinking treated water allegedly for fear of becoming impotent.

ZANIS Kitwe reports that Kitwe District Commissioner Macdonald Mtine confirmed that the community in Kapoto compound was not taking free treated water which the Nkana Water and Sewerage Company was providing.

This is despite the outbreak of cholera in the area.

Mr. Mtine, who is also Kitwe District Epidemic Preparedness Committee chairman, said seven people from Kapoto have already been treated for cholera but surprisingly, the rest of the people in the area have continued to drink water from shallow wells located near pit latrines.

He said the people of the damp Kapoto compound should start using treated water from the Nkana Water Kiosks to enable health authorities to contain the cholera situation.

Mr. Mtine expressed worry at the traditional myth circulating in Kapota compound that treated water had certain particles that would make them impotent once they took it.

He said the continuous use of water from shallow wells located near pit latrines was dangerous and exposing the community to more water borne diseases.

He has since appealed to the community not to compromise their health and instead drink treated water.

Source: Lusaka Times, 20 Jan 2010

Uganda, Kamuli District: sanitation campaign succeeds in raising latrine coverage

The pit-latrine coverage in Kamuli district has increased from 46% to 76% in the past two years, the district health department [Alex Mulindwa] said [...] Mulindwa said they launched a campaign to encourage people to construct pit-latrines in 2006.

He added that they used radios and patrols to mobilise the residents. The campaign was funded by the water department. Mulindwa said at the beginning of the campaign, some villages had no pit-latrines and residents would relieve themselves in the bushes.

“Bulungu village in Namwendwa sub-county had no pit-latrine and the residents had turned anthills into latrines,” Mulindwa noted. The district health educator, David Mbadhwe, said the district council passed a resolution under which a punishment of six months jail term was imposed on those who did not have pit-latrines. Mulindwa said they targeted having pit-latrine coverage of 90% by 2010.

Source: Tom Gwebayanga, New Vision / allAfrica.com, 18 May 2009

Uganda: Toilet Emptying Needs Investors

THERE are investment opportunities in emptying of pit latrines in Kampala and other urban areas, the World Bank‘s senior water and sanitation specialist has observed. “The bank carried out a study in Kampala and found that Kampala residents generate 800,000 litres of feaces per day (800 cubic meters) but the capacity to empty and dispose them of is only 230.000 litres,” Samuel Dawuna Mutono explained.

“This means more local people can invest in emptying pit latrines but the biggest challenge we discovered is that most of these toilets are not accessible, while some people are too poor to pay for the service,” he said. Mutono said only 8% of the country’s population is connected to the sewage system. “So how about the 92%? That is why the bank has supported this business linkage programme aimed at training members of the private emptiers association to improve their services.”

This was at the signing of a memorandum of understanding for a business linkage programme between the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), Enterprise Uganda and the Private Emptiers Association at the Kampala Serena Hotel.

[...] “SMEs [small and medium enterprises] lack documented long-term visions, strategic business plans, adequate capitalisation, while others are involved in unscrupulous practices and have poor customer care,” Enterprise Uganda’s director of business advisory services, Rosemary Mutyabule said. “That is why the association will benefit much from the training,” Mutyabule said. 

Source: David Muwanga, New Vision / allAfrica.com, 25 May 2009

South Africa: The quiet water crisis

Concerned with a cholera threat from its northern neighbour, Zimbabwe, South Africa could be overlooking a creeping water crisis of its own, as ageing infrastructure and rising demand spew potentially deadly bacteria into its water systems.

[Although] access to water has increased dramatically [since the end of apartheid in 1994], backlogs persist: in 2008, about 5 million people were still in need of adequate supplies, while three times more – 15 million people – lacked basic sanitation.

[...] South Africa’s tap water is among the best in the world, according to [Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF] spokesperson Linda Page. But with millions still lacking access to flush toilets and piped water, the threat of waterborne diseases cannot be ignored, she said.

In 2008, half of the municipal water supplies surveyed in Western Cape Province, on the country’s south coast, had high levels of the potentially deadly E. coli bacteria, according to a study released by the provincial DWAF.

[...] Municipalities across the country have blamed poor water quality on a lack of resources and capacity that has put far too much strain on ageing water treatment plants. In 2004 South Africa had just 15,000 civil engineers, with the bulk in the private sector and only 11 percent working for local government.

[...] Every year thousands of tourists flock to the towns that dot the banks of the Vaal [River] [...] but in December [2008], when the extent of the [water] pollution became known, the town lost about US$180,000 a week in cancellations.

Local wildlife is also struggling to cope with the environmental impact. Recently, court-ordered contractors removed 20 tonnes of dead fish after a local NGO, Save the Vaal River Environment (SAVE), took the local Emfuleni municipality to court for leaking millions of litres of raw sewage into the river.

[...] In its defence, Emfuleni municipality – well aware of its failing pumps and ageing infrastructure – argues that it lacks the finances and capacity to correct the situation.

While [admitting] there are backlogs in the provision of drinking water and sanitation, and that mistakes have been made, [Dr Roman Tandlich, a lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmacy at Rhodes University] stresses the complex environment in which post-apartheid service provision operates.

For instance, standard sanitation systems are problematic in townships, and systems based on ventilated pit latrines, where an additional ventilation shaft is dug alongside the main hole to reduce odour and the presence of flies and mosquitoes, are being explored.

Studies from Ghana have shown that extremely high levels of government subsidy are needed to fund conventional sewage systems, while ventilated pit latrines have proven to be a cost-effective alternative.

[...] DWAF’s Page said funds have been put aside to address problems in infrastructure, as well as the issues of budget management and skills shortages.

Source: IRIN, 04 Feb 2009

Uganda, Nyadri district: schools without pit latrines will not open for first term

Education officials in Nyadri district have said schools with dilapidated pit-latrines will not open for the first term.The district inspector of schools, Flavia Droti, said six schools had so far been identified and they would only open after new latrines had been constructed. The first term starts on February 2, [2009].

Droti [...] said: “A report by inspectors of schools suggested that the state of pit latrines in most primary schools was wanting. Most of the latrines were in a dangerous condition and need to either be replaced or repaired.” Droti was responding to a statement by the district council chairman, Viga Kanon, calling for the situation to be rectified so that pupils report for next term on time.

[...] Kanon noted that Epa Primary School which has the highest enrolment, needs at least two new five-stance VIP latrines for both the pupils and teachers. He said the old pit-latrines would either collapse or sink because of the torrential rains that began in August [2008].

Source: Richard Adrama, New Vision / allAfrica.com, 25 Jan 2009

Uganda: Kayunga leaders arrested over latrines

ABOUT 26 people, one of them a sub-county councillor and four LC1 officials, have been arrested for lack of pit latrines [and taken to court]. This follows [an] operation by the Police led by the Kayunga sub-county health inspector, Abasa Kaneha.

[...] Most of the residents did not have pit latrines and many, including the NRM chairman for Nakaseeta parish, Andrew Kalyango fled, Kaneha said. “We will arrest anybody irrespective of which leadership position they hold. We plan to cover the entire sub-country,” he said.

Kaneha said the operation was meant to ensure that the cholera outbreak that was reported in Kayunga town would not spread to the villages.

Source: Charles Jjuuko, New Vision, 30 Nov 2008

Ghana: Plan Ghana Assists Five Communities With Toilet Facilities

In Bawjiase in the Central Region, Plan Ghana, is assisting five communities to construct improved household pit latrines. A total of twenty-seven toilets that have so far been completed, were inaugurated at Obo Yambo and Aboano, two of the beneficiary communities. The facilities were built with local materials under the supervision of the Professional Network Association (ProNet), an NGO based in Accra. Labour services were provided by the community. The project, the first in the area, is a six-month pilot project.

Read more about Plan International’s water and sanitation activities here.

Read more about water and sanitation in Ghana here.

Source: Accra Mail, 30 Oct 2008

Uganda – Tororo to Fine Homes Without Pit-Latrines

THE Tororo district council is to impose a sh50,000 fine on homesteads near schools that lack pit-latrines. The district health and education committee chairperson, Jacinta Ayoo, said about 50% of communities living around schools lacked pit latrines.

She said the communities instead use the school pit latrines, which fill up faster and constrain authorities in terms of emptying sewage and digging new ones.

Read More: New Vision – allAfrica.com, 10 Mar 2008