Joseph Mazige
28 July 2007
At Ripon Landing Site in Jinja Municipality on the shores of Lake Victoria, human settlement has become a key factor in polluting the resource environment.
The landing site was established in 1984 with the purpose of enabling easy access to social services like schools and hospitals by the people living across the lake in the nearby Mukono district. It is named after the Ripon Falls that were submerged by the construction of the Owen Falls Dam 3km away. The landing site has a population of 120 people that has negatively impacted the lake environment.
All sorts of human activities take place at the site. People wash bicycles, bathe and wash clothes directly in the lake. These activities are not regulated as there is no proper administration at the site.
The residents have one pit latrine for which users pay Shs100 during the day. At night, it's closed. This forces them to use the lake and nearby bush to ease themselves. Others defecate in polythene bags which they throw into the lake the following morning. These are popularly referred to as the flying toilets. Consequently, the people have suffered a number of ailments from the waters they contaminate.
Mr James Okware, the chairperson of Ripon Beach Management Unit admits that the lake is being polluted by the residents. "People here leave the latrine and jump into their canoes to go and urinate and defecate in the lake" Okware said in an interview recently. He said though that those caught urinating or defecating in the lake are fined Shs5,000 and Shs10,000 respectively for the offences.
According to Okware, an organisation, Environmental Conservation of Lake Victoria (ECOVIC) promised to bulid them a pit latrine last February which they haven't built yet. "Even the government knows how much the people abuse the lake environment but they haven't come out to condemn it," Okware noted.
The landing site lacks a drainage system. The waste water, oils from motor engines and other waste from human activities end up in the water resource. This has changed the colour of the water to brown and black . This is threatening marine life and may not only be at Ripon landing site but also along other shores of Lake Victoria.
This is one of the few fresh water lakes in the World and it serves the three East African countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. However concerned authorities like the Local Councils are taking action to ensure that no further harm is done to the lake environment and hopefully, they will save it from getting more polluted.
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