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By Michel Nkurunziza
Residents living around Nduba landfill in Gasabo District, Kigali City, have been looking for relocation and compensation as they are affected by waste including toilet waste dumped in the landfill.
To prevent related health risks affecting the residents, their properties were valued in 2021 with a pledge to be expropriated in the same year but it is yet to be done.
On June 9, 2022, Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC) signed an agreement with Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) of the East African Community (EAC) to construct Kigali Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant in Masaka Sector, Kicukiro District, which will be receiving the 200 cubic metres of fecal matter per day.
Fecal sludge management (FSM) is the collection, transport, and treatment of fecal sludge from pit latrines, septic tanks or other onsite sanitation systems.
However, the project is yet to bear fruits.
Sch poor faecal sludge management and sanitation in African cities like Kigali City are causing 115 deaths per hour from excretarelated diseases in Africa, according to a joint study by the UN Environment Programme and the International Water Management Institute, an international research organisation.
The poor faecal sludge management and sanitation was highlighted in State of Africa’s Environment 2024 report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) which was released this week, in Nairobi, Kenya, in partnership with Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA).
Faecal sludge is a mixture of human excreta, water and solid substances such as toilet paper or other cleansing materials as well as menstrual hygiene materials that are disposed of in pits, tanks or vaults of on-site sanitation systems.
Faecal sludge contains a high number of microorganisms originating from faeces, many of which are pathogenic.
Direct and indirect contact with untreated faecal sludge poses a significant health risk.
Some 300 million of the two billion people lacking basic sanitation facilities globally live in Africa according to the report.
“Access to sanitation facilities remains a challenge for urban populations in many Sub-Saharan African cities, particularly for people living in poor peri-urban areas,” it says.
The report noted that poor faecal sludge management also contributed to huge economic losses in Africa.
The analysis found that sustainably managing faecal sludge in Africa was hindered by a number of factors.
These included population growth and urbanisation, over-reliance on financial aid for construction of treatment plants, low revenue generation from users of treatment facilities, poor operation and maintenance and inefficient institutional arrangements for faecal sludge management.
It also said African countries should make direct investments to very poor households, in order to achieve the UN mandated Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: Water and sanitation for all by 2030.
African women and children are bearing the brunt of the continent’s sluggish pace in sanitation, with health, nutrition, education, gender equality and poverty reduction being at stake.
The scenario is no better in East Africa where over half the people in informal settlements live in unsanitary conditions.
“At present, in this region there is no country with more than 68 per cent access to adequate sanitation. Rwanda appears to be the only one to achieve this percentage and above.
Despite commitments by several governments and the United Nations’ recognition of sanitation as a basic human right, it still remains neglected,” the report shows.
Faecal sludge treatment plant project in 2 phases
The first phase is the immediate action which was supposed to be financed by the Government of Rwanda and WASAC Ltd to recruit the firm to establish the treatment plant.
The second phase of the project, after the plant is complete, is expected to receive 1000 cubic metres of fecal sludge on a daily basis.
Currently, Kigali is inhabited by 1.6m residents and they are set to increase to 3.8 million by 2050, triggering the increase of waste.
This means that 450 tonnes of waste including fecal sludge are collected from 1.6 million people currently every day and it could double in 2050.
Kigali Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant project is also in line with the National Integrated Water Supply and Sanitation Master Plans that WASAC has completed in May 2022.
The Master Plan is aligned with Rwanda’s Vision 2050 and intends to ensure sustainable water supply and sanitation services to the population. The Construction of the plant will be completed by the end of 2025.
