Wastewater treatment plants, to be built in a $600-million
project backed by the World Bank and other donors, are intended to improve
human and marine health
DAR ES SALAAM, Sept 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - For
Andrew Kilula, the wastewater perpetually seeping from his toilet presents a
daunting and costly challenge.
"When my children step in it, they get sick. I don't
always have the money to treat them," he said.
The father of six, who lives in the Kigogo area of Dar es
Salaam, about 20 minutes by car from the centre of Tanzania's biggest city, has
no choice other than to discharge the sludge from his toilet in the nearby
Msimbazi River.
"I do it at night because it's not allowed. If you get
caught they can fine you heavily," said the 41-year-old.
Most residents in this crowded neighbourhood lack access to
sanitation services, such as cesspits emptied by private firms.
"It's far too expensive to hire a cesspit tanker. They
charge around 60,000 Tanzanian shillings (about $27) for one trip," said
Kilula, who cannot afford to empty his own cesspit.
"I honestly don't like to pollute the river's water,
while I know people use it for growing vegetables," said the carpenter.
However, he now has reason to hope he can stop, as
authorities in the port city are working to build a sewage network that will
pass through his neighbourhood.
It is part of a broader strategy to provide better
sanitation services for residents, while sparing the Indian Ocean's aquatic
life from wastewater pollution.
Fishermen dock at Magogoni fish market close to a pipeline
discharging sewage into the ocean in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, September 7,
2017. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Kizito Makoye
DIRTY SEAS
Ocean contamination is a problem in all Tanzania's coastal
cities, as growing populations and industrial activity have led to the dumping
of effluents and chemical spills, said officials with the environment
directorate in the Vice President's Office.
Under the $600-million Dar es Salaam sewage scheme, backed
by the World Bank and other donors, wastewater treatment plants with the
capacity to treat an average of 200,000 cubic metres of liquid waste a day will
be installed in three city locations, the government announced at the end of
August.
"We believe this project will help ease sewage disposal
problems for the city residents," said Remanus Mwang'ingo, acting CEO of
the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority (DAWASA). The city will be able
to handle sewage from 30 percent of its residents by 2020, up from 10 percent
now, he added.
The seabed pipeline currently discharging raw sewage into
the ocean emits a vile stench near the presidential state house, but this will
be diverted to a treatment plant installed in the Jangwani wetland area,
adjacent to the city centre and close to the Msimbazi River mouth, Mwang'ingo
said.
A network of sewage pipelines linking different city suburbs
will also be installed, the government said.
"This initiative must aim to prevent sewage from
spilling over in the streets," said Agustina Mrindoko, a newspaper vendor
on Azikiwe street.
CURBING CHOLERA
As one of Africa's fastest-growing cities, with 70 percent
of its 4.4 million residents living in informal settlements, Dar es Salaam is
highly vulnerable to water-borne diseases.
Poorly built storm-water drains are frequently clogged by
solid waste, meaning that heavy rainfall quickly leads to flooding and water
contamination, local residents said.
In the centre of Dar es Salaam, the existing sewage network
often becomes overwhelmed during the rainy season, forcing effluent to overflow
and exposing residents to health risks.
"People contract cholera because they drink
contaminated water," said Ali Mzige, a public health consultant with the
AAM International Reproductive and Child Health Clinic. "Any effort to
handle wastewater from the toilet is commendable."
Mzige urged residents in crowded neighbourhoods to refrain
from discharging raw sewage into drainage channels to avoid contracting the
potentially fatal illness.
The new sewage treatment facilities should help prevent
disease outbreaks, officials said. The plants will also have the capacity to
generate their own electric power using biogas generated from methane in human
faeces.
DAWASA's Mwang'ingo said the rest of the solid waste will be
turned into manure to fertilise city farms and gardens, while treated water
from the sewage plants will be used for irrigation and cooling industrial
machinery, among other purposes.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation