Africa-Press – Uganda. The government has subjected samples of the “black rain” that descended on Busia district and surrounding areas to laboratory tests.
Residents were last week shocked by the bizarre colour of the rain, which they said was black, and raised concerns about the potential impact it could have on their health, plants and environment.
However, samples have been collected from the various locations within Busia Municipality and taken for water quality analysis, according to Mr Solomon Anywar, the Busia District water quality control officer at the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC).
“The samples had been collected and taken to the Mbale Regional Laboratory, while other samples were taken to the Kampala Central Laboratory,” Mr Anywar said in an interview on Wednesday.
Mr Anywar added that as NWSC, they have stakes on issues of water quality and are not going to sit back and look on.
“We got directives from our Head Office in Kampala to have samples of this water taken for tests in Mbale and Kampala,” he said.
According to Mr Anwar, the tests will look at the nature of pollutants, establish the PH content of the water, including the levels of acidity and alkalinity, and whether the said rain was dangerous to crops and humans.
Mr Anywar could, however, not say when the results will be out.
Concerns
Earlier, Ms Winnie Kakai, a resident of Sofia Village, Busia Municipality in Busia District, said water fetched from one of her harvesting containers was black, initially fueling speculation that her containers and roof were dirty.
“I first poured the water I had collected thinking my containers or roof were dirty, but when I fetched the water again, it was still black,” Ms Kakai said.
Mr Francis Magambo, a trader and resident of neighbouring Marachi Village, said he, too, pulled out containers to collect rainwater, but was “disturbed” by its colour.
He said: “The water was black, leaving me wondering whether it was the dirt on the roof of my house which had caused that. I only realised there were issues of water quality when all my neighbors started complaining about the colour of the water.”
In Western Kenya, Pamela Acheng, a resident of Busia County, said she had received “very dark rain”, adding that she was “surprised” that the same rains had also affected Ugandans.
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