Abstract

This study evaluated mechanisms and practices for water pollution control adopted and applied by regulatory institutions and manufacturing industries in Lilongwe and Blantyre cities of Malawi. Data was collected through key informant interviews, direct observation, documentation analysis and secondary data analysis from 21 industries and seven regulatory institutions. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse qualitative data and quantitative data was analysed by SPSS 16.0 to obtain descriptive statistics including frequencies, mean, percentages and median; excel to generate tables and graphs. 100% of the industries have established management systems to support water pollution control. However, their waste management practices pose a risk to water resources as 100% of manufacturing industries, including 57% that reuse and recycle waste, dispose wastes into the environment, water and land, hence releasing nutrients, organic wastes and chemicals. Further regulatory practice is not adequate to curb water pollution by industrial activities due to lack of coordination among stakeholders, low frequency of monitoring exercises, lack of compliance assistance to the manufacturing industries and lack of public awareness. It is recommended that regulatory institutions increase frequency of compliance monitoring inspections and public and industrial awareness programmes. It is further recommended for, Government to consider changing policy towards pragmatic implementation of IWRM and strengthening regulatory institutions. Adoption of flexible pollution control mechanisms should be implemented to encourage adoption of more desirable waste management practices by industries

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School	: School of Natural and Applied Sciences
Issued Date	: 2017

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