Climate Change in Uganda

Uganda: When a Dying Lake Hurts the Living

Felix Basiime

19 June 2010 (http://allafrica.com/stories/201006210758.html)

ANALYSIS

Climate change is threatening Lake Katwe and the lives of over 8,000 residents who engage in salt extraction for a living. The lake has flooded forcing people to seek alternative jobs.

It was a bright sunny day when I arrived at Lake Katwe deep inside Queen Elizabeth National Park. The sight of a woman sweating profusely drew my attention. Ms Aidah Mbambu, 40, was busy drawing water out of a salt well which had flooded. 

"I have been trying to empty this well for the last three weeks but it fills up quickly," she starts her story.

Ms Mwambu has been extracting salt from the lake for over 15 years. And from this business, she has supported her six children. She is not alone. More than 8,000 people own small wells (salt plots) on the shallow lake. Their lives depend on extracting salt.

Plots on the shores of the lake are demarcated and owned by individuals or families. The ownership is hereditary.

A plot means a pond of at least 10 or 12 feet wide and between three to five feet deep. At the center of the lake, only licenced individuals are allowed to extract the salt leaving the locals to own plots at the shores.

Out of mining salt, Ms Mbambu says she earns between Shs 20,000 to Shs 40,000 daily. But her livelihood is now threatened. "There is no salt now, water has flooded our salt pans," says Ms Mwambu, "I have grown up in Katwe and have never seen such a situation."

The reduction in the amount of salt extracted has exposed the locals to economic hard times. Ms Mbambu says she has, for the first time, failed to send her three children to school this term. "I am afraid of taking a loan, so my children are still at home," she said.

                                                   Flooding

The salty Lake Katwe flooded in May, 2010 a few days ahead of the peak season for extracting salt. Business usually booms during the dry seasons, (from January- March and June-September) when the water in the shallow lake evaporates exposing the salty rocks underneath. The flooding has also left more than 3,000 porters jobless.

According to Mr Nicholas Arinaitwe Kagongo, an environmentalist at the Lake Katwe Salt Tourism and Information Centre, the floods that hit the area recently, dissolved the salt in more than 8,000 salt pans.

"There used to be over 30 streams refreshing lake Katwe but now only 4 are left," Mr Arinaitwe says.

He says lake Katwe may become barren just like other salt lakes in the district if the current climate changes are anything to go by. "There were four salty lakes in Kasese District but now two are left, and others got 'barren' due to similar environmental factors that Lake Katwe is facing now," he adds.

The salty lakes are in the areas of Katwe, Nyamunuka, Bunyampaka and Munyanyange.
Today, only Katwe and Bunyampaka have salt. Mr Arinaitwe says high extraction following the high demand for salt in Uganda and the neighbouring countries, has also affected the salt quantity in the lake.

Other factors include the degradation by animals and residents who cut the vegetation surrounding the lake. The grass and other shrubs control the rain water runoff.

"The problem is that we have been using the grass from the slopes around the lake and on the lake banks to create our salt wells which caused the rain water runoff, but we had stopped this and had started using sand in sacks," Ms Mbambu says.

Experts blame it on mishandling of environment. "There is an unchecked run off of rain water from the hills due to poor vegetation caused by bush burning," said Mr Jeconious Musingwiire.

Mr Musingwiire, the western region focal person and public awareness officer for NEMA, said there was need to properly manage the water catchment area around the lake. And Mr Paul Isabirye, the Coordinator of the Climate Change Unit under the Ministry of Water and Environment says "there must be an investigation into why the streams are drying. Trees must be planted around the lake. They will safe guard the banks".

Traders around East and central Africa have for many years flocked Lake Katwe to load about eight to 10 lorries of salt daily. The lake produces three types of salt- Crude salt for animal leak, edible salt (sodium chloride) and unwashed salt. The women scrap the bottom of the garden to scoop the salt. They use their feet to crash the salt to form small/fine crystals and then wash the crystals forming edible salt (washed salt/ sodium chloride).

Kasese local government earns about Shs240 million annually in taxes from the salty lake. Lake Katwe remains the main source of income among the inhabitants of Katwe-Kabatoro town council in Busongora south. People still practice rudimentary mining of salt to earn a living.

There are health complications in this job however, notes one of the guides in the area. "For the women when the female reproductive organs get in contact with this salty water more often, they develop uterus complications," says Nicholas. "The men on the other hand are also affected. When the male organs get in contact with this salty water, they itch. This makes them scratch their male organs causing wounds."

To minimize these effects, the women are advised to wear a pad before they enter the water. This helps to reduce on the amount of "salt water" entering their reproductive organs. The men on the other hand use condoms, Nicholas says.

                                                 About the lake

Lake Katwe has a salt rock that lies on a contour line that connects lakes: Katwe , Munyanyange, Nyamunuka and Kasenyi (Bunyampaka). In the middle of the lake are vents or holes which go from the main salt rock to the outside. They are scattered in different parts of the lake.

Water from the streams goes through the vents and dissolves the main rock to become a salt solution which quickly turns into salt.