Industrialization in Uganda is on the rise with many industries being established and industrial parks growing. This affects the environment in various ways, but for the waterbodies in particular, it threatens both biodiversity and water quality.

A study done showed that many industries in Namanve Industrial Park lack functional effluent treatment plants (Angiro et al., 2020) and therefore discharge raw wastes harmful in the nearby waterbodies which lowers the water quality and make it unsuitable for water consumption.

In early January 2022, a picture was spread widely on social media which showed a change in water to a pinkish color in river Nile at a drainage channel from Nytil, a textiles company. This provoked a public outcry from people which led to suspension of the company's activities for sometime by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).

Further investigations showed the poor conditions of the effluent treatment plants. This leaves us wondering how long had this been going on and how much damage is being done by other industries behind closed doors.

References

Angiro, C., Abila, P.P. & Omara, T. Effects of industrial effluents on the quality of water in Namanve stream, Kampala Industrial and Business Park, Uganda. BMC Res Notes 13, 220 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-020-05061-x

NEMA suspends activities at NYTIL over River Nile contamination

http://nilepost.co.ug/2022/01/06/nema-suspends-activities-at-nytil-over-river-nile-contamination/