LAKE VICTORIA BASIN

during the same period grew by 49.2 per cent (Lake

Victoria Basin Commission 2007).

In Burundi, industrial activities are dominated by

agro-processing and food industries: coffee, cotton,

rice, tobacco, sugarcane, dairy products, oil mills and

breweries. Other important industrial activities relate

to the production of consumer goods, chemicals,

textiles, wood, paper and building materials. About

70 per cent of goods are transported by road, which

connect Burundi to Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya and

the principal transport corridor, which joins Burundi

to Tanzania (Lake Victoria Basin Commission 2007).

In Tanzania, industrial activities in the Lake region are

characterized by small or medium-sized production

units based mainly on agriculture and fishing. These

include fish processors, fishmeal mills, abattoirs,

vegetable oil mills, animal feed mills, and coffee and

tea processors. In Uganda, investment is taking place in

various sectors of the economy including mining and

agriculture (coffee, tea, fish, milk, edible oils and fruit

processing) (Lake Victoria Basin Commission 2007).

The major urban centres – Kampala, Entebbe, Masaka and

Jinja in Uganda, Mwanza and Musoma in Tanzania, and

Kisumu in Kenya –are the key point sources of pollution. In

Rwanda, the manufacturing industries are concentrated

in Kigali, which are also point sources of pollution. The

industries in the Gikondo Valley in Kigali City are a source

of chemical pollution for the Nyabarongo River that

feeds the River Akagera. Most of the industrial facilities

in the LVB have inadequate waste treatment facilities.

Therefore, wastewater is discharged into storm water

drains, which then finds its way, in some cases via

wetlands, into the Lake. Those facilities that do have

wastewater treatment plants are generally inefficient

(Lake Victoria Basin Commission 2007).