afrol News, 16 April - The Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA) has announced a waste water treatment project in the capital city Kigali to combat poor environmental health and conserve the most valued resource.

The projects which follows the public outcry on poor sanitation, will see the authorities issue directive to have water waste treatment plants on all commercial and public institutions like schools, hotels and hospitals around the city, according to REMA statement.

REMA Director General, Dr Rose Mukankomeje said the new initiative will add to the already existing strategies put in place by the government and environmental orgainsations to conserve water and control land and air pollution.

She said the country’s water project had suffered major setbacks due to Rwanda's topography and the original plan of Kigali city.

“Originally the city was expected to accommodate between 200,000 and 250,000 people but over the years the population has grown to over one million people,” Mukankomeje told The New Times.

She said that the inability to control the growing population has prompted the evacuation of people living in the Gikondo wetland which will eventually be used to collect and harbour the waste water for natural filtration.

Kigali has recently adopted methods of collecting and channeling waste products into a lagoon which was set up in Gacuriro estates in Kigali.

Effective waste management strategies assist in minimising and avoiding adverse impacts on the environment and human health, while allowing economic development and improvement in the quality of life, REMA said in a statement.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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