Rwanda’s Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC) signed an agreement with Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) of the East African Community (EAC), to upgrade investments in wastewater management infrastructure covering Kigali City.
The project aims at improving water quality and reducing wastewater.
The two parties signed the agreement on May 9, and were represented by Coletha Ruhamya, the Deputy Executive Secretary of LVBC and Gisele Umuhumuza, Acting Chief Executive Officer of WASAC.
The agreement focuses on the High Priority Investment (HPI) Project and the Key Project of Kigali Feacal Sludge Treatment Plant, among other projects to be implemented in a short term investment plan under the agreement.
The HPI project in Rwanda is an integral part of the wider Lake Victoria Basin Integrated Water Resources Management Programme (LV-IWRM), a regional programme implemented by EAC Partner States, while the Kigali Feacal Sludge Treatment Plant Project, overall, aims at the reduction of wastewaters (untreated effluents) flowing into the Lake Victoria through regional river systems.
According to Ruhamya, the partnership will contribute to addressing climate and water-related risks.
"As Rwandans, our benefits tap on the sustainable development goals (SDGs). We can’t have good sustainable development goals without proper waste management; we can’t talk about all SDGs without properly managing our waste. And this is why we want to study the projects well so we can have good end-results,” she said.
Umuhumuza also explained that this project aims at putting up industries that are in charge of sanitising wastewater in domestic homes.
There are two ways of sanitising water; the pumping out method and the pipe method, taking the waste to different industries. This project also complements the government policy of preserving our environment and also, looking to see if we can produce important products for Rwandans like fertilizers and fuel, she said.
Implementation of the project
WASAC emphasised that this project is in line with the National Integrated Water Supply and Sanitation Master Plans, which WASAC 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.
Umuhumuza cleared that this is not a new thing, wastewater was already there in our homes and elsewhere, and that this project is coming to solve problems we have as Rwandans, to preserve the environment and to provide services to the people.
"First, we have to understand that there are other ways of not keeping wastewater in our pits and also to facilitate the system taking the wastewater to the industry, by linking pipes in homes to the ones taking the waste. The second thing is that we can construct pits in a way that wastewater won’t contaminate the soil and also make water pumping easier,” she said.
At the regional level, the completion of the Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant in Kigali is expected to improve water quality and availability in EAC Partner States. At a local level, the Plant will ease the disposal of liquid wastes.
Kigali residents who currently depend on a series of pit latrines (digging one after the other is full), will save their scarce land for other purposes, and will have a safe and clean environment.