The effects of Lubigi sewage treatment plant on communities in Namugoona

Abstract

As populations increase rapidly, scarcity of clean water resources also becomes an issue thus introduction of sewage treatment plants. Sewage treatment is a type of wastewater treatment which aims at removing contaminants from sewage so as to produce an effluent that is suitable for reuse in the environment. Despite the importance of sewage treatment plants, they have many effects on the surrounding households and the environment. The overall goal of the study was to contribute to the understanding of the effects of Lubigi sewage treatment plants to the surrounding households which will help in creating awareness and feasible measures for the negative effects in Namugoona village. Specifically the study sought to assess how beneficial the Lubigi sewage treatment is to Namugoona residents, the challenges they are facing from the sewage plant and the measures developed to solve the challenges faced. A cross sectional research study was undertaken using a mixed approach where simple random sampling was employed in the section of the households for interviews and purposive sampling on the key informants. Data was collected through field surveys, interviews and direct field observations and then analyzed using thematic content were descriptive statistics. The study finding revealed that Lubigi sewage treatment plant was highly beneficial to the residents of Namugoona, air pollution was the biggest challenge people have faced from the sewage treatment plant and among the 50 respondents 40% presented air pollution as the main challenge. The study revealed that there was no significant relationship between gender and health complications from Lubigi sewage treatment plants . Based on normal approximations, the hypothesis were not significantly with p-values greater than 0.05. The study found out that air pollution 40%, Health complication 22%, reduced soil fertility 18% and climate disturbances 24% were some of the major negative effects of the Lubigi sewage treatment plant to the residents of Namugoona. The study therefore has identified sensitization by the NSWC and local government about how people can carry out disease prevention and also sewage treatment plant authorities to ensure a lot of oxygen supply in their processes so as the bad odor is controlled.