NEMA halts operations at NYTIL because to River Nile contamination.
The news came just a day after Nytil's management acknowledged the overflow but pledged to fix it.
Southern Range Nyanza Limited, popularly known as Nytil, has had its operations halted by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) for reportedly releasing hazardous water waste into the Nile River.
The suspension comes after a visit to the facility in Jinja, which was prompted by public outcry, particularly on social media, where many people expressed their displeasure with the way the facility was dumping waste into the river.
Following public outcry, a NEMA team inspected the facility on Wednesday, January 5, and discovered a blockage at the facility’s Effluent Treatment Plant, which caused industrial waste water to overflow into a storm water drainage channel and then into the Nile River.
The crew took samples from the river to analyze in the lab and determine the best course of action.
NEMA said in a statement on Thursday that it had decided to cease all waste-water-generating activities at NYTIL, a move the agency claimed was aimed at averting further contamination of the river.
“To prevent further pollution of the river, NEMA has suspended all activities at NYTIL that generate industrial waste water until an effective Effluent Treatment Plant has been designed and operationalized, to handle all of the effluent generated at the facility, to NEMA’s satisfaction,” according to NEMA.
The move, according to NEMA, is in accordance with the National Environment Act No. 5, 2019 and the National Environment (Standards for Effluent Discharge into Water or Land) Regulations, 2020.
“Unregulated discharge of industrial waste water is a public health hazard with negative environmental consequences such as loss of aquatic biodiversity, contamination of food chains, and compromising the quality of usable water, particularly for downstream users.”
NEMA praised the public’s vigilance and advised residents to continue reporting environmental violations and occurrences in their neighborhoods.
The news came just a day after Nytil’s management acknowledged the overflow but pledged to fix it.
“It has since been determined that the effluent treatment infrastructure failed, resulting in an unintentional effluent overflow into the river.” In a statement, Nytil General Manager Viny Kumar said, “Fortunately, the engineering team is already on the ground to fix the problem and resolve it with finality.”
