New norms for disposing of waste water

From 22nd to 23rd October, the Ministry of Water, Environment, Sanitation and Urbanism (MEEATU) organized a two day workshop to raise awareness on the national norms for disposing waste water.–By Diane Uwimana

Francine Jeanne Nkunzimana: “With the new norms, people can no longer throw out waste water wherever they want, without treating it. The sanitation code penalizes noncompliance.” ©Iwacu

“Throwing out waste water can negatively impact our health and environment”, says Francine Jeanne Nkunzimana, Director of Sanitation and Water Quality Control at the MEEATU. The ministry has established parameters that identify the discharge norms of waste water. Companies and households are forced to follow these limitations, based on categories of liquid waste levels such as black-, grey- water and sewage. Companies will be forced to connect to the waste water plant.

Nkunzimana recognizes that there is a waste water treatment plant capable of treating 40.000m3 of water a day, but unfortunately, it only treats between 10.000m3 and 12.000m3due to the small number of industries and households connected to the plant.
“With the new norms, people can no longer throw out waste water wherever they want, without treating it. The sanitation code penalizes noncompliance”, she adds.

Théophile Ndarufatiye, the assistant of the Minister of Water and Environment, notes that the norms will reduce surface and underground water pollution. “It will also preserve the quality of our environment, animal habitat and biodiversity”, he adds.
The discharge norms of waste water are used to find solutions for environmental issues. “These norms will against pollution”, says Ndarufatiye. Waste water concerns all water of domestic, agricultural and industrial activities charged of toxic substances that reaches the sanitation gutters.