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Drop in river water levels worries investors
Cyclists cross River Rwizi on October 9, 2017. Authorities say the water levels of the river have dropped since 2016. PHOTO BY FREDERICK AYINE
What you need to know:
Affected rivers. The rivers affected are Mpanga that snakes through Kabarole, Kyenjojo, Kamwenge and empties into Lake George, and Rwizi which starts from Buhweju, Sheema, Ntungamo, Mbarara, Isingiro, Kiruhura and stretches up to Rakai, Lwengo and Kyotera and Nyamwamba in Kasese.
KAMWENGE/KASESE. The drop in water levels in various rivers in western Uganda is scaring away investors whose projects’ lifeline depends on good volume of water in the rivers.
The manager of the Kamwenge-based Mpanga hydro-power, Mr Charles Mugisha, says his plant has dropped power production from its original 18 megawatts to as low as 3 megawatts since 2016 to date.
“Power production oscillates in rainy season to between 12 and 18 megawatts that is from March to May and August to October while in the dry season it is between 3 and 6 megawatts,” he says.
Mr Mugisha says the Shs27 billion Rwengaju Irrigation scheme upstream in Kabarole District that is currently under construction is a big threat to Mpanga Power downstream in Kamwenge.
“With irrigation, water is drawn and doesn’t come back to flow in river unlike with power dams,” he says.
According to the Western region National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) focal person, Mr Jeconious Musigwire, River Rwizi has dropped about two metres from the original guaging pillars at Nyamitanga which were created in 1970.
The two-year Rwengaju Irrigation Scheme was launched by government in December 2017 and is expected to be completed in October 2019.
The scheme, which is to serve as a model village, was pledged by President Museveni during his visit to Rwengaju Parish in 2006.
The scheme is intended to benefit model farmers in Busoro Sub-county, Kabarole District.
The 22-kilometre project stretches from Karangura Sub-county at the source of River Mpanga to Busoro Sub-county.
Mr Mugisha also is worried by the activities at Kiburara Prison Farm in Kamwenge, which he says have continued to degrade the buffer zone to Mpanga Catchment area.
Measures
But as a mitigation measure, Mr Mugisha says: “We (Mpanga power plant) have mapped all people who own land in the buffer zone from Kamwenge-Ibanda Bridge up to the power plant at Kanara to stop digging on the river banks but conserve it by planting trees,” he adds.
In Mbarara, the District Council chairman, Mr J.B. Bamuturaki Tumusiime, who is also the chairman of Rwizi Catchment Management Committee, says if nothing drastic is done to protect the rivers, they will chase away investors.
“For example, some companies that use water from Rwizi catchment such as Nile Breweries Ltd in Mbarara Town are threatening to close due to the water crisis because River Rwizi water levels are reducing,” he says.
“Mbarara is soon becoming a city any time, but how can we live in a city without water, there are even plans by government to pump water from River Kagera (nearly 61kms away on the Uganda-Tanzania border) should River Rwizi continue drying up,” Mr Bamuturaki Tumusiime says.
In agreement, the Nile Breweries Ltd Mbarara plant manager, Mr George Mbogo, said: “Our business is much threatened by the dropping water levels in River Rwizi, we use a lot of water because beer is 96 per cent water.”
“This plant [capacity] was supposed to be doubled from the current 1.2 million hector-litres of beer per annum to between 2 to 2.5 million hectolitres of beer, but the water levels could not allow us expand the project. The water levels are below our pipe now,” he lamented. A hecto is an equivalent of 100 litres.
Mr Mbogo says they have been forced to abandon drawing water direct from the river and now use piped water pumped by National Water and Sewerage Corporation.
“We can’t pump water directly because our pipe is above the water levels of River Rwizi, this has hampered our capacity,” he says.
Mr Musigwire said there is a lot of degradation upstream in Buhweju and Sheema districts.
“But the recent intervention with the locals through creating earth bans, stone bans and water retention ditches on the hill slopes is giving us much hope of the restoration,” he says.
In Kasese District, the story is not any different. The Nyamwamba Small Hydro-power project in Kilembe faces the same challenges as those on rivers Mpanga and Rwizi.
“We do not often get 100 per cent production throughout the year because of water reduction levels, but we shall produce at 3 megawatts not 9.2 megawatts. Currently, we are working at 1.3 megawatts because water is not enough,” Mr Tody Lenihan, the president and chief executive officer for South Asia Energy Management Systems, said recently at the commissioning of the plant.
Mr Lenihan says the major challenges faced are the dropping water levels and the floods but he says the later has been addressed.
He says the project will benefit at least 6,000 homesteads around the Nyamwamba valley in Kilembe only if the water levels are constant since power largely depends on water levels in the river.
“I can’t assure people that our power will not be off because we depend on the river for water, where water is enough we shall produce but once it reduces we shall have no option” he says.
Conservation drive
Recently, the minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Ms Irene Muloni, asked the people of Kasese to handle issues of environment carefully by planting trees on the bare hills of Rwenzori.
“As government extends power nearer to the people by establishing the hydropower dams, please plant trees in the catchment areas and on the hills to generate rain that will feed the rivers with water. Don’t be like my people from Mount Elgon who have destroyed the environment and are now faced with landslides,” Ms Muloni said.
Interventions
Mr Richard Rwabuhinga, the chairman Mpanga Catchment Management Committee, says they are now looking at the restoration of all areas that are facing degradation in both upstream and downstream of River Mpanga.
“There is a need to establish river catchment committees at district levels in all catchment districts of Mpanga to be collaborating with the Catchment Management Committee to ease the process of restoration of River Mpanga,” he says.
“For the increased reduction of water volumes in River Mpanga, the CMC members need to look into the issue on how we can address the problem of climate change,” he adds.
The team leader Albertine water management zone, Mr Jackson Kitamirike, says their goal is about the sustainable management and development of water resources.
“There is a water governance crisis, increased competition for water, securing water for people, protecting vital eco-system and securing water for food production,” he says.
Mr Kitamirike said water developments and management should be based on participatory approach by involving all the users and planners saying that industries should not be developed at the expense of integrity of the river.
The Uganda-DR Congo coordinator for PROTOS, Mr Lievens Peeters, says “for the financial sustainability of the CMC, there is a need for the users of hydro-power plants and NWSC to invest in the payment of ecosystem services by encouraging people who live in the upstream and downstream by planting trees on the river banks to save money on desilting the river and also using chemicals to treat water.”
The Mpanga CMC wants to introduce a Conservation Fund in Mpanga Catchment so as to entice people to conserve the environment.
They also want to use the UPDF and other enforcement agencies to enforce the presidential directive on wetlands in Mpanga catchment area.
