20 Jun 2007 - By Chris
Kasamba and Kimunya Mugo *
Uganda’s Waki River flows westerly through
a mosaic of forests and wetlands, serving
as a crucial source of freshwater for numerous
communities along both sides of the river’s
banks. Livestock, fish and wildlife also
enjoy the river’s life-sustaining waters.
However, all is not well with the river
and its water catchment area. Intensive
logging, often for charcoal production,
is degrading the river ecosystem, and fertilizer
run-off from tobacco and sugar cane farming
are polluting the waterways.
A relatively new activity, distilling molasses
— a residue of sugar production — is posing
additional threats to the river’s survival.
Economics and the environment
In Uganda, sugar factories sell molasses
to distillers for the production of waragi,
a locally-brewed gin. The distilled alcohol
is in high demand and is traded within the
country and as far as eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo and southern Sudan. Each
distiller can make up to US$9 a day from
selling fifteen 20-litre jerrycans of alcohol.
When the waragi gets to its final consumer,
it can generate US$8-50 per jerrycan depending
on the quality. Alcohol production is becoming
more and more attractive as it earns much
more than traditional farming activities.
But increased production is raising environmental
concerns, particularly as waste from the
alcohol-making process is being dumped straight
into the Waki River. Fish kills and the
death of other species near some 50 brewing
sites along the river have been reported.
“The water is so heavily polluted that
local people can’t even drink water from
the river anymore,” said one local resident.
“The alcohol plants should be removed from
here,” exclaimed another. “Fish are dying
and we can’t fish as we did before. Only
a few people are profiting from this business
while many locals are dying from drinking
waragi and other risks related with its
distillation.”
Excessive use of fuel wood for the distillation
process has also led to deforestation. And
alcoholism is becoming a problem in many
communities.
Poverty and the environment
Despite the problems, more and more people
are getting into the waragi business. Farms
are being neglected. Communities are affected.
WWF, through its Lake Albert Eastern Catchment
Management Project, is working with local
communities and other stakeholders to conserve
the water catchment area. Faced with the
challenge of trying to curb the adverse
effects of the industry on the lake and
mounting public health issues, concerted
efforts are being made to help communities
change their attitudes towards conservation
and encourage them to adapt to less destructive
practices.
“As a way of devising solutions to the
problem, the project has been working together
with the local authorities and has organized
distillers into an association,” said Dr
Musonda Mumba, Freshwater Programme Coordinator
at WWF’s eastern Africa regional programme.
Dialogue with Uganda’s Kinyala Sugar Works,
for example, has been initiated to try and
find an alternative use of the molasses.
“We need to work very closely with the
community and other stakeholders in order
to engage communities in alternative income
generating activities that are not detrimental
to the environment,” Dr Mumba added.
“Saving the river will not only be for
the benefit of the environment but the community
itself and generations to come,” she added.
* Chris Kasamba is Project Executant for
WWF’s Lake Albert Eastern Catchment Management
Project. Kimunya Mugo is Communications
Manager for WWF’s Eastern Africa Regional
Programme Office.
END NOTES:
• The effluent discharge from molasses
has high Chemical Oxygen Demand of 88,000
to 124,000 parts per million, and Biological
Oxygen Demand of 30,000 to 45,000 parts
per million. The national standard in Uganda
is 100 parts per million and 50 parts per
million respectively.
• Lake Albert, on the border between the
Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda,
is fed by the River Semliki and the Victoria
Nile and drained by the Albert Nile.
• WWF’s Lake Albert Eastern Catchment Management
Initiative Project — funded by Norad and
WWF-Norway — works closely with Uganda’s
Wildlife Authority, National Forest Authority,
Forest Inspection Division, Department of
Water Development, and the National Environment
Management Authority, as well as by local
government agencies.
