Three companies have been granted the license to transport and mange petroleum wastes generated during ongoing oil exploration and the anticipated production in Uganda.
Tom Okurut, the Executive Director of National Environment Management Authority – NEMA – says that the companies are already in the process of acquiring land to establish themselves ahead of the tasks.
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The three companies are Green Label, Green Impact and Providence.
The waste treatment companies are to be employed by the respective Oil companies responsible for generating the wastes. However, they are to operate according to the operational waste management guidelines for oil and gas operations, which NEMA issued recently.
According to the guidelines, the petroleum wastes should be managed through a number of methods including diluting the solid waste with soil and then spreading it onto the land. There is also pumping the liquid wastes down the disposal wells and bio-treatment, which refers to a method of degrading the organic compounds in the exploration and production wastes using biological natural processes.
Other waste management methods provided in the guidelines include onsite burial of the waste in man-made or natural excavations, such as pits. The guidelines however suggest that wastes must first be stabilized to avoid having pollutants migrating from the pits and contaminating usable water resources.
The licensed companies are expected to begin work soon by disposing the currently accumulated solid and liquid wastes being kept by the oil companies at various designated sites. However, Okurut notes that that the volume of the wastes will pile up once production begins.
The guidelines demand that the waste burial sites should be at least 500 metres away from a usable underground or ground water source. They also require that the sites should be leveled and restored to almost its original position by planting indigenous plant species. In addition, the companies are to install underground water monitoring systems, conduct quarterly monitoring of the water from the wells and report to NEMA.
Cathy Adengo, the Corporate Communications Manager at Tullow, one of the Oil and Gas companies, told URN during a visit to oil waste consolidated sites managed by the company at Ngara in Buliisa district that the current system of storing the waste could not be sustained over a long period. She however said she was aware that government was involved in a speedy process to develop a means of waste disposal.
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However, while the companies have been licensed to manage petroleum wastes, the laws concerned with managing the environment especially in relation to the new petroleum industry are yet to be enacted and NEMA is involved in a review process of the legislation.
