By Emmanuel Rutayisire

Residents of Kimironkp sector in Gasabo district are faced with a big public health
challenge occasioned by the neigbouring Gasabo Prison that is home to more
than some 2000 inmates and exacerbated by the current water crisis that has
rocked most of Kigali City.

Evening stench emanating from what a senior government official related to the
Rwanda Bureau of Standards termed ‘a wanting procedure in the disposal of
liquid waste’ by the prison authorities is what the residents have come to brave
for some time but that has left some businesses very affected.

The most affected part of the sector is Buhoro village and its environs and experts
warn of a public health challenge as the waste could be finding its way in the
adjacent swamp before being properly treated. The swamp has of recent become
a source of domestic water for the residents in the face of the current acute lack
of piped water in the City.

On a typical day it is common to find mini drinking joints and eateries empty as
patrons cannot with stand this extraordinary smell from the prison sewers.

“I know the problem and have visited the prison several times. Liquid waste from
that prison should be going through biogas facilities where it is retained for some
time before being released.

If there is a stench it means either waste is retained for a short period of time or it
is not retained at all. They [prison officials] have always said the facility is shifting
but even if it has not retention matters are controllable,” Remmy Norbert
Duhuze, Director for Pollution Control at Rwanda Environment Agency in an
interview with The Independent.

Of major concern is that withy the current water crisis some of the area residents
are currently fetching water for domestic use from the swamp which puts them at
the risk of diseases like typhoid and cholera.

Mr. Raymond Murenzi, Manager for Standards at Rwanda Bureau of Standards

tells this magazine there are two standard guidelines on liquid waste
management: one on domestic water and the other on industrial water and both
were adopted into technical regulations and put into gazette by the minister for
trade in 2013.

“I think the stench at the prison is a result of domestic water but we are not a
regulator so you can refer to REMA which is responsible for enforcement,”
RaymondMurenzi, Manager Standards at RBS.

“There are standards for disposal of waste of any kind and if adhered to such
scenario should not arise. That events are that way it means something is amiss,”
a government waste management expert speaking synonymously because he is
not allowed to comment on the matter.

Not prison alone

GasaboPrison apart, experts in urban planning warn, while Kigali has distinguished
itself in the East African region for its success in keeping its streets well lit,
efficient garbage collection and regular road maintenance the fact that the city
sits on a clogged sewerage system poses a sanitation challenge.

Figures of 2013 indicate some 110m³ in liquid wastes was being generated in
Kigali per day from commercial buildings and the few self-contained units in the
affluent suburbs. This is on top of other unknown volumes in pit latrines in the
compounds of homes in both upper- and lower-end suburbs.

This means in case of an earthquake the city would swim in a sea of human waste
as almost of 80 per cent of water consumed in urban centersis very likely to turn
into liquid waste, a scenario that creates a sanitation threat to urban centers in
Rwanda and Kigali in particular.

To address the problem, the city authorities are now making it mandatory for
commercial properties and real estates to provide for sewerage treatment
systems before they are issued with construction permits and collective sewerage
systems are encouraged.
Experts say collective sewerage systems may not be good because, in case of
failure, the entire city would suffer the consequences which call for multiple
sewers to enable back-ups and make maintenance of the system easier.

The city contractedprivate firms in every sector to collect solid waste and the city
is clean but in absence of a proper functioning sewerage management system the
city sits a sewerage time bomb.

Improved standards of living partly to blame

In the recent years new and affluent suburbssuch as Nyarutarama, Kibagabaga,

Kinyinya and a section of Kimironko have emerged and people’s incomes have
generally improved; environmental experts argue that city authorities should
have a plan for adequate amenities there.

And since the majority of residents in Kigali want to live in self-contained

detached houses, this, coupled with improved water supply, means an increase in
liquid waste in coming years.

Already, theactual water need of the city has increased to 82,000m³ which is why
some areas, particularly lower-end suburbs do not get adequate water supply and
this is muchrelated to the rising affluent suburbs that do not use pit latrines and
require alot of piped water.

While water department has been accused of all crimes over water scarcity, the
anticipatedincrease of six to 10 per cent in the demand for water due to increased
needs is on a high end and will require mega investment in water infrastructure
from government.

The City of Kigali officials have been talking of borrowing for construction of a city
sewerage system but experts in urban planning terms say the idea will take long
to mature and cannot be easily implemented in a city already dotted with
buildings and suggest the council can start by putting up sewerage treatment
systems and other amenities at the suburbs.

City officials put a collective sewerage system that is yet to be realisedat $70
million (Rwf58 billion).
But experts are however still skeptical and they accuse the authorities of paying
lip service to sanitation issues and cite the emerging suburbs without
corresponding improvement of the city’s social amenities.

Sanitation challenges in the central business district

Figures from water indicate 28,000m³ or 45 per cent of the water consumed in
Kigali is pumped out of River Nyabarongowhich gets much of its flow from
Nyabugogo River which experts suspect is polluted by sewerage from suburbs
such as Muhima and the Central Business District.

Once the rivers are polluted, experts say, the cost of water treatment goes up and
quality of household water for surrounding communities that do not have access
to piped water is compromised which increases prevalence of water-borne
diseases such as typhoid.

Most of the residents of Muhimasurbub belong to low strata and use pit latrines
which urban planners say could be enabling sewerage to find its way into the river
through absorption and suggest usage of septic tanks should be encourage but
others find the argument untenable since the tanks are relatively costly.

A standard septic tank to accommodate sewerage for a three-bedroomed house

costs Rwf1, 500,000, but a price that could go down were homeowners to
contribute communally. However, there is a need for the government to come up
with proper standards to ensure the septic tanks are of high quality.

The 2012 National Housing and Population Census indicate that Kigali City is home
to 1.1 million people which translate into 10.8 per cent of the total population of
Rwanda.

The high population poses a major challenge to city authorities when it comes to
providing adequate social amenities and experts argue that some of them might
collapse if the pressure increases.