• The houses are draining raw sewerage into the river. Plants dump toxic waste, garbage is dumped on river banks.
• Nema said 43 facilities - flats and industries - have been shut down for polluting the river. Some have been issued improvement orders.
Image: GILBERT KOECH
More than 100 houses in Nairobi's Tassia Estate will be demolished as they are built on riparian land and are discharging raw sewage into the Nairobi River.
Demolition will begin as soon as pegging or demarcating the area is completed. Pegging was to begin on Monday.
Nema managing director Mamo Mamo said on Sunday the houses were polluting the river and must go.
"The Water Resource Authority will peg the riparian area before we embark on demolishing over 100 houses flouting the rules," he said after a fact-finding mission.
Mamo said the authority will work with the Nairobi Metropolitan Services to clear a mountain of solid waste.
“Nobody wants an unclean and unhealthy environment, let's work together to improve this place,” Mamo said. He was accompanied by Robert Orinda, deputy director for compliance at the National Environment Management Authority.
Decades ago, the Nairobi River water was sparkling and pure with plenty of fish and other aquatic creatures such as water beetles
Back then, Nairobi was called the Green City in the Sun.
The water was so clean you could drink from the Nairobi, Ngong, Mathare and Mbathi rivers.
Today, the Nairobi River is dead.
Studies in the 1990s on tributaries and the basin showed high levels of chemical and organic pollution. It's gotten worse.
Dead foetuses, used syringes, raw human waste and hazardous industrial waste have replaced fish and freshwater creatures in the river flowing across Kenya's capital city.
Increased industrialisation, rapid population growth, mushrooming slums and scarce water resources pose major problems.
Several attempts to clean up and restore the river have failed.
The government in July launched a 90-day crackdown on polluters.
Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko said the government will "mercilessly" descend on those discharging untreated and toxic waste.
The crackdown will be led by Nema, it will be aggressive and sustained. No one will be spared, Tobiko said.
"I am warning polluters who release untreated and toxic waste into our rivers - be it residential or factories - that their days are numbered and they will be dealt with ruthlessly. There will be no sacred cows,” Tobiko said.
Mamo said the river will be cleaned of waste. Lorries have been dumping soil on the banks of the river.
Despite the magnitude of the problem, Mamo said the authority has made tremendous progress in cleaning the river.
“We have so far marked 143 illegal discharge points and we will close all discharge points,” he said.
Mamo said Nema started from Ondiri and will go downstream to ensure all discharge points are closed.
“Hopefully, we will continue in the same spirit to ensure all discharge points are removed, especially illegal structures on riparian land," he said.
Dumping solid waste will end, he said, adding that the problem is dumpsites along the river.
Forty-three facilities have been closed, Mamo said.
“Kenyans must stop discharging waste into the water bodies.”
Orina said the authority will upgrade the sewer line and connect those without connections to the main sewer.
He said Nema will not hesitate to bring down illegal structures.
“You must regulate yourself for the authority to help you,” Orina said, adding that landlords allowing flats to discharge raw sewage are breaking the law and will be held responsible.
David Washiali, a Nyumba Kumi leader, said most houses are not connected to the sewer line. “Every street here has one sewer line but most houses are not connected," he said.
Washiali said landlords to blame for sewerage discharge do not live in the area.
(Edited by V. Graham)