National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) has suspended activities of Nyanza Textile Industries Limited (NYTIL) in Jinja, over discharge of waste into River Nile.
The suspension comes after public outcry on social media over alleged contamination of River Nile by the facility, with social media posts showing colored liquid waste flowing directly into the river.
In a press statement, NEMA suspended NYTIL activities after it’s inspectors dispatched to the site, discovered a blockage of the facility’s Effluent Treatment Plant that caused industrial waste to overflow into a storm drainage water channel and subsequently into River Nile.
“In order to prevent further pollution of the river, all activities of NYTIL that generate industrial waste have been suspended by NEMA until an effective Effluent Treatment Plant has been designed and operationalized to handle all the affluent generated at the facility to the satisfaction of NEMA.” The statement from NEMA reads in part.
NEMA says, the suspension is in line with the provisions of the National Environment Act No. 5 of 2019 and the National Environment (Standards discharge of Effluent into Water or Land) Regulations, 2020.
The samples picked from the river have also been taken for laboratory analysis which will inform way the forward, NEMA said.
Nytil is the largest integrated textile industry in Uganda with facilities for spinning, weaving, coloring, and tailoring. It produces a range of garments including Army and Police uniforms, sweaters, T-shirts, Face Masks PPE’s etc.
Unregulated discharge of industrial waste water is a public health hazard and has deleterious impacts on the environment including loss of aquatic biodiversity, contamination of food chains, and compromising quality of usable water especially for downstream users.