KAMPALA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Mulungu, a landing site on the shores of Lake Victoria, is a popular spot for fish lovers in the Ugandan capital. Fresh, sundried, deeply fried -- or fish prepared in any kind of way is a major attraction for city dwellers to the landing site mainly made of makeshift bars and restaurants.
Now, all this is changing as nature is taking its course. Lake Victoria's waters have swollen to record levels, according to experts, submerging the landing site.
The water level of the lake, which is Africa's largest fresh water body, has risen to 13.2 meters, the second highest level since 1964, when the water level was 13.41 meters.
Stella Bagala has operated a make-shift bar and restaurant at Mulungu for the last three years. She now stares at her workplace, submerged in water, hoping one day she will find the water receding to its normal level.
"It was in February when we noticed that the water level of the lake had started rising. Of course we hoped it would not continue to rise," Bagala told Xinhua.
"To our surprise, the water continued taking over the space where we used to prepare our fries from, until it reached the make-shift lockups," she said.
The last blow came last month when the entire area where lockups were located was submerged.
"Since the rain is still falling these days, we have lost all hope," Bagala added.
Sam Okecho, a boat owner at Mulungu, told Xinhua that business is slow as a result of the rising water levels.
"It is a big surprise. My business of transporting people on the lake has been affected so I have decided to hire out the boat to fishermen," Okecho said.
Mulungu is home to more than 200 lockups and stalls erected on an area the size of a football pitch and a half. About 700 people, working mostly as bartenders, food vendors, hawkers, fishermen, boat makers, transport boat operators as well as car washers and tour guides depend on Mulungu, said Michael Kazibwe, a youth leader in the area.
About two kilometers away from Mulungu is the Busabala landing site, where dozens of people have been put out of business.
Nearly 100 canoe and engine boats are lying idle as fish stalls are submerged. The sellers have nowhere to operate from under the directives of social distancing due to COVID-19.
Environmental experts attribute the rising water levels to heavy rainfall, environmental degradation and urbanization.
Intensive and prolonged rainfall in Uganda and in the east African region is expected to stop at the end of this month, according to weather forecasters. Water levels could rise further and cause severe floods across the country. Early preparation and response are therefore required, Sam Cheptoris, Uganda's minister of water and environment, told reporters on Friday.
"The rivers discharging into Lake Victoria from upstream countries have uncontrollably more than doubled their inflows," Cheptoris said.
"Lake Victoria is a huge trans-boundary body shared by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda with about 23 rivers that bring water into the lake. Some of these rivers originate as far as Rwanda and Burundi and therefore when it rains in Burundi, water finds its way into Lake Victoria. There is, however, only one exit through the River Nile at Jinja," the minister said.
The quick rise in the water level has also been accelerated by human activities, especially environmental degradation, environmentalists have said.
They argue that loss of forest cover, encroachment on wetlands, lakeshores and river banks including poor land use practices, have resulted in soil erosion leading to the siltation of water bodies. This has resulted in the speedy movement of water into lakes and rivers with a lot of silt, which has further reduced the water storage capacity of water bodies.
In addition, urbanization has created highly impermeable surfaces like roads, roofs, and pavements that have reduced the water infiltration into the soil, as well as the interception and evapo-transpiration capacity of forests and wetlands.
Cheptoris said that besides submerging some landing sites, the rising water levels have also had other impacts. Some properties on the shoreline, like hotels, have been submerged. On April 14, floating islands temporarily halted electricity generation at Uganda's Owen Falls Dam in the eastern district of Jinja.
The minister said the current rise in water levels for Lake Victoria has also attracted regional and international attention, since the water flows through South Sudan, Sudan and eventually into the Mediterranean Sea through Egypt.
"The emergence of several floating islands on major lakes have the capacity to block the flow of the Nile system and cause backflow and more flooding," he said.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on April 19 said in a televised address that engineers will now release more water at the dam in Jinja in order to stop the rising water level.
Cheptoris said that while water reduction is the inevitable solution, the move is likely to affect the people and properties downstream.
The affected people and property owners are requested to take note and prepare to stop their operations and vacate. Under the current situation, the evacuation of people from high risk zones will be inevitable, Cheptoris said.
The government said it has strengthened surveillance on water bodies to relay timely information and ensure that floating masses are handled in a timely manner before joining the Nile system or reaching any major infrastructure, like hydropower stations.
President Museveni has directed that all encroachers on the wetlands, shorelines, river banks and government forests be removed with immediate effect.
Cheptoris said the presidential directive also said that leaders at the local government level who had not taken action against encroachers have been dismissed. Enditem
