The not-so- new natural treatment method of waste-water reduces pollution and cuts costs, the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) has told owners and operators of factories countrywide.
UIA officials noted this during a demonstration of “cost-effective solutions for waste-water treatment in oil and industry” at the UIA offices in Namanve industrial area yesterday.
Valentine Ogwang, the authority’s director for investment promotion, said: “Apart from these methods being environment-friendly, they are also relatively cheap for even small-scale companies to use. I urge all manufacturing companies to view this as important and adopt it as soon as possible.”
The demonstration was done by Danish firm, Transform 1994 APS, which is spearheading the implementation of the natural rootzone method of sewage treatment without using chemicals.
“The interest of using nature to treat nature is rising everyday worldwide. It came up 35 years ago in Europe and it is now spreading,” said Jorgen Logstrip, Transform’s founder and chief executive officer. “We have developed this to make sure that we can transform waste to something valuable, cost- effectively and without using chemicals.”
ROOTZONE FILTER SYSTEM
This system entails construction of an artificial swamp with a green treatment system known as the reed bed.
The bed consists of a particular type of soil carefully selected depending on the type of waste to be filtered and the rhizome plants, which adopt to swamp life.
The system minimises waste, cuts pollution, promoting an efficient process of waste-water management through various methods like the soil filter that removes organic wastes and heavy metals, the calcium filter for disinfection and the sand filter for aeration and removal of oil components.
The reed bed has rhizomes growing on top of it, making the treatment area look like a garden under which natural treatment takes place. Being waterlogged, they are constructed slanting to prevent mosquito breeding.
“We are experimenting this method in Kasese cobalt mine and it is working tremendously. We use local material and we try to construct it locally with local labour,” Logstrup said.
The method however, drew mixed reactions from different factory owners in attendance. Interviewed, many said much as the method is cheaper, in the long run the amount of money and material needed to construct the reed bed filter and maintaining it is too much for most small firms.
Others welcomed the idea. They said the method would make companies more environment compliant and put them in good stead with local communities around them and regulators.
Normal waste treatment plants cost about Shs 700 million to Shs 1 billion to establish and maintain while the reed bed costs below Shs 500 million to set up.
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