Makerere University is coordinating extensive research studies into wastewater treatment, water supply and water governance issues. According to Dr Herbert Mpagi Kalibbala of Makerere, they have secured support from Norway to run in several universities in Africa and Asia.
The project, water and society (WASO), is coordinated by Norwegian Programme for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research for Development (NORHED).
"We need to incorporate the attitudes of society when designing and adopting technologies. How to maintain a new technology and how to further improve it should always be priorities," Kalibbala said.
The five-year project involves eleven partner universities from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Norway. It will see researchers training at master's and doctorate level in water sector related studies, while university staff is also entitled to fellowships.
Kalibbala, a lecturer in the college of Engineering Design, Art and Technology at Makerere, observed that the studies would also look at how to mitigate water and wastewater treatment costs, which are high as the systems used are energy-intensive
"As the global environment changes, even the quality of raw water changes; hence we need to upgrade treatment systems which are of old age in Uganda. In Uganda, treatment costs are high because our systems are energy-intensive," he added.
He noted that even in Kampala, most of the sanitation is not captured by the installed centralized systems. "In the capital city, only 10 per cent is sewered, while 90 per cent [uses] on-site [disposal]."
Prof Harsha Ratnaweera, the scientific coordinator for Waso, observed that with ever-increasing human population and lavish lifestyles, scientists have to look for new and appropriate technologies to manage water and wastewater.
"Although 70 per cent of the world is covered with water, only three per cent is fresh water and less than 0.007 per cent is easily accessible for humans," he said. "The rest being in frozen icebergs and deep groundwater aquifers ... investment in [salty] seawater treatment and recycling of wastewater are the two main trends facing us now."
However, Hannington Oryem-Origa, a professor of biological sciences at Makerere University, observed that the major problem facing Uganda is not terrain but poor planning. "The effluents will soon have nowhere to be deposited because wetlands and flat areas where they are normally deposited are getting reclaimed and filled up. We are not even following the pre-independence plans!"
Ratnaweera told The Observer Makerere University is the principal investigator in this project that involves academicians, water and related ministries, supplier agencies and private sector in the mentioned countries.
