The Water Resource Management Authority has blamed county governments for licensing construction of buildings in wetland areas.
The organisation said despite issuing clear guidelines on where to build, the county governments still license the construction in outlawed riparian land.
WRMA deputy technical coordination manager Margaret Abira said buildings in marshy areas near rivers are risky and dangerous to the occupants due to lack of firm foundation.
“The riparian land should be reserved at least six metres from the river. These areas with trees and grasses will help in filtering as buffer areas. It is therefore wrong to authorise any construction there,” she said.
Abira was speaking to journalists at White Rhino Hotel in Nyeri town on Thursday after attending the Tana catchment stakeholders' forum.
The forum brings together stakeholders in water resources management to exchange information, experience and ideas.
It also creates an avenue for discussion on strategies of improving catchment management and strengthening mechanisms for conflict resolution, Abira said.
She urged all the relevant agencies to work together to prevent such tragedies as one recently witnessed in Huruma, Nairobi, where at least 49 people died when a building collapsed.
Abira also warned those polluting rivers, lakes or ocean waters that they will face the full force of the law.
“We have developed an effluent discharge control plan, which helps WRMA to monitor ongoing activities around the water bodies," she said.
"The plan will also minimise and control water pollution. Those polluting water will be prosecuted because the law is very clear.”
Abira said farmers who pollute water using agrochemicals or fertilisers will not be spared.
