Citizens residing around Lake Kivu have been filled with panic of possible eruptions of the lake due to methane gas which is currently under extraction.
The panic has made officials from Ministry of Infrastructure and Electricity, Water and Sanitation (EWASA) travel to Karongi District to launch a public lecture about the status of methane gas and its extraction.
Officials have spent three days in Karongi District explaining and attending to questions with an open discussions related to methane gas.
The explanations aimed at informing Karongi District residents, about the importance of methane gas ruling out the rumors of eminent eruption of the lake because of too much gas quantity.
Experts have pointed out noted that there should not be any reason of panic, because the surface area of the lake is far larger than that of methane gas into the water and that extraction work is done by experts and so calling for no panic.
It is not the first time residents residing around Lake Kivu get panic. Early this year, the State Minister for Energy and Water, Eng. Colette Ruhamya had to respond to them dispelling concerns that the extraction of methane gas and other fossil fuels from Lake Kivu would not harm biodiversity in the area.
Ruhamya said in a live question and answers show aired both Radio and Rwanda TV, that there are guidelines followed in the extraction of the gas process to avoid any potential dangers adding that the priority is to protect the lives of the people, protect the environment and to efficiently use the extracted gas.
She said that several feasibility studies were carried out on how the extraction will be carried out without causing any harm and how effectively the waters can be separated from methane gas, which contains other fossil fuels.
Ruhamya added that a Lake Kivu monitoring team was set up to keep a close eye on the activities in the lake.
According to her, methane gas, carbon dioxide, petroleum, fertilizers, electricity and hydrogen sulphide are some of the fossils fuel that were discovered in Lake Kivu “but due to capacity constraints, rwanda had to prioritized methane gas and electricity.
Lake Kivu is said to be containing 65 billion cubic metres of methane (50 million tonnes of petrol) lying 250 metres under the water.
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