Nairobi comes from the Maasai rendering Enkare Nairobi, which translates to a place of cool waters, a reference to the Nairobi River. Pollution has made the river to be not so ‘cool’. The main tributaries of the Nairobi River are the Nairobi river, Ngong river and Mathare river. The known causes or key pollutants to the river are raw sewage from informal settlements, burst sewers, solid waste, industrial discharge and heavy metals like lead.
It has become heavily atrophied and hence can be categorized as a ‘dead and closed’ ecosystem as Water Expert, Peter Abwao would put it. It poses serious health risks such as internal health damage, cancer, diarrhoea, skin problems, allergies and respiratory diseases. Ecosystem Ecologist, Mr Alex Awiti, points out other causes of pollution being a change in land use in the source areas and rapid urbanization. Impact of pollution cuts across other counties due to the fact that the Nairobi River joins the Athi River Basin which has its mouth in the Indian Ocean. The concerned counties are Machakos, Nairobi, Kiambu, Kajiado, Makueni, Kitui, and Tana River.
Encroachment of slums on riparian land, a space considered to be six metres from the starting point of the river, is a direct threat to the river. Industrial zones along the banks of the Ngong River directly release effluents characterized by high levels of heavy metals like arsenic, copper, mercury and cadmium. Among the pollutants are plastic bags and bottles which have clouded most parts of the river. Subsequently, a nationwide ban on the former was issued by the National Environment and Management Authority (NEMA) to reduce water pollution.
During rainy seasons, when it floods, they are all carried to the lower banks of the river causing even more flooding as they prevent high water volume with pressure flow at once. In the informal settlements zones, there is a concentration of plastic materials which are reduced by burning which introduces a bad smell into the atmosphere, causing air pollution. Domestic animals such as ducks, chickens and dogs are also affected as they feed on the piles of garbage around them. Little or no water at all has forced residents from the informal settlements to use the water from the river for their daily use such as washing clothes, gunny bags, cars and even sorting out the garbage as means to make a living. This, of course, was done oblivious of the danger that lies in the heavily polluted waters. The structures in the informal settlements such as toilets are not elaborate. When they fill up, manual exhausters built like simple handcarts are filled up with waste and disposed of directly into the river. This openly gives a description of the sorry state of the river, which is almost impossible to bring it back to its former glory. The settlements around these rivers are undeniably impassable by foot owing to the foul smell. An interviewed local, name withheld, testified that servicing the residents in the slums as manual exhausters was definitely an uphill task. Some of the effects he mentioned were difficulty in breathing, change in skin colour due to the smell and slow decline of their voices. Quick remedies for this were milk or eggs which were not very effective.
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