Assessing soil erosion risk in a peri-urban catchment of the Lake Victoria basin.

Soil erosion and sedimentation contribute to deteriorating water quality, adverse alterations in basin hydrology and overall ecosystem biogeochemistry. Thus, understanding soil erosion patterns in catchments is critical for conservation planning. This study was conducted in a peri-urban Inner Murchison Bay (IMB) catchment on the northern shores of Lake Victoria since most soil erosion studies in Sub-Saharan Africa have been focused on rural landscapes.

Biofuel characteristics of non-charred briquettes from dried fecal sludge blended with food market waste: Suggesting a waste-to-biofuel enterprise as a win-win strategy to solve energy and sanitation problems in slums settlements.

This study explored the production and evaluation of briquettes made from dried fecal sludge mixed with fresh food waste as a dual strategy to solve energy poverty and poor sanitation problems in Ugandan slums. Cylindrical briquettes measuring 82 mm height by 76 mm diameter were produced from dried fecal sludge (FS) alone, and FS mixed separately with pineapple peels (FS + PP), charcoal fines (FS + CD), and bean husks (FS + BH) in a mix ratio of 50% FS: 50% biomass (wt/wt basis) using red soil as the binder. Physiochemical characteristics and fuel thermal efficiency of the briquettes were tested following ASTM standards and were compared to wood-derived charcoal and commonly traded briquettes on market in Uganda.