With the vision to be a leading water utility in the world, providing excellent and affordable water and sanitation services to its customers while protecting the environment, National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) of Uganda has expressed its commitment to environmental protection and sustainable development in its operations.
This was witnessed by a team of 36 people characterized by staff from; National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and Uganda Association of Impact Assessors (UAIA) who convened at the Katosi Drinking Water Treatment Plant (KDWTP) in Mukono district, for a field study affiliated to replenishing the environment for water conservation.
During said visit, the Environment Officials were rather impressed by the KDWTP team’s efforts laid by the corporation to prevent environment breaches such as treatment of sludge and waste water, reforestation done following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Forestry Authority (NFA), incineration of all solid waste generated on site among others.
The teams were welcomed by the plant Manager, Mr. Joseph Tweheyo who briefed them and treated them to a tour of the plant.
Mr. Tweheyo however brought to the environmentalists’ attention, some challenges that need immediate intervention for instance; increased encroachment on the Lake Victoria shore by the community, squatters on forest reserves, lack of enough knowledge regarding environment and catchment protection among the neighboring communities and more.
“Environment abuse leaves every Ugandan on the verge of a climate crisis and therefore we need to provoke environmental conservation by helping people understand the link between forests and water availability since trees play a great role in rainfall formation,” he noted.
Mr Tweheyo also urged them to enforce the laws and regulations concerning environment management but not limited to sensitizing the masses.
Thereafter, both teams used the interactions and the visit of catchment as a catalyst of opportunities to learn from one another. Recommendations for catchment protection measures that can benefit the Katosi catchment area and the community at large were discussed, and will be presented at the different forums for further deliberations.
Landscape Ecologist, Dr. Grace Nangedo appreciated NWSC for living by example and vowed to encourage other relevant authorities and investors to benchmark and learn some of the good practices at the corporation’s Katosi DWTP.
Notably, environmental preservation is at the core of NWSC’s business as the corporation has implemented several initiatives to ensure environmental protection, such as reducing the water loss through leaks and improving the water quality by treating the water to meet the required standards. NWSC has affected several projects aimed at providing safe water to communities while minimizing environmental impacts and participated in environmental campaigns such as the World Environment Day, Earth Day, and the National Tree Planting Day to sensitize the public about environmental protection and the need to conserve water resources.
NWSC, committed to “Water and Sanitation for All”.
