Joseph Mazige
25 March 2008
Jinja — NATIONAL Water and Sewerage Corporation has closed off all sewage lines from the two leather and tannery industries ordered to shut down by National Environment Management Authority (Nema) last week over pollution.
Similarly, Jinja Municipal Council has also implemented Nema's order and closed down the operations of Uganda Leather and Tannery Industries (Ulati) and Skyfat.
The Chairperson Technical Committee NWSC Board Yokoramu Katwiremu on March 20 led a team from the corporation that sealed off the tannery sewerage lines.
Addressing a joint press conference, Mr Katwiremu said: "We have been communicating with the two industries about their effluent but they have not met our standards, they have not complied".
"National Water and Sewerage Corporation is not the one responsible for the stench in this town. It is the tannery industries," he said.
He said closing off the sewage lines should serve as a warning to some of the industries that discharge into NWSC lines without treating the effluent. He warned town authorities to keep a keen eye on the closed industries to ensure that they do not discharge directly into the lake after the sewage lines have been closed.
Mr Katwiremu urged the tannery industries to come up with plans to have their own effluent mega treatment plant. "When you leave them to grow they will reach a level that you can not reverse a development," he added.
The Mayor Baswari Kezaala said the Municipality will begin examining effluent from chemical related factories and a number of spot inspections will be conducted.
Mr Kezaala also called off a peaceful demonstration he had organised on Good Friday saying it had been rendered useless by Nema's action.
Meanwhile 250 people have become redundant following the closure of the Uganda Leather and Tannery (Ulati) and Skyfat industries by the National Environmental Management Authority on March 19.
The financial controller of Ulati Mr Sanjoy Gosh said the NEMA action has rendered more than 110 workers redundant.
"What we shall lose is production worth 60 tonnes of finished, semi-finished and the wet blue leather worth $10,000 per day," he said.
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