- The commission will have to grapple with solid waste, sewerage due to aging infrastructure, and industrial and institutional waste
- It is expected that Water Resource Authority will install beacons to curb future encroachments
Image: FILE
The Nairobi River Commission has revealed the thematic areas it will use to clean the heavily polluted Nairobi River.
The commission, state agencies, and members of the community have teamed up to clean the river.
“We had a short break, but all activities will resume on Monday with the unclogging operation along the Ngong River intersection within Outerring Road,” commission's CEO Brigadier Joseph Muracia told the Star yesterday.
The thematic areas of the cleanup exercise include catchment protection and restoration, mapping and reclaiming riparian land and draining waste in the river.
The commission will have to grapple with solid waste, sewerage due to aging infrastructure, and industrial and institutional waste.
It is expected that Water Resource Authority will install beacons to curb future encroachments.
All the illegal structures will then be pulled down and waste choking the river will also be removed.
Authorities also intend to seal all pollution points since past efforts to clean the river failed due to a lack of coordination.
It is for this reason that the state formed the Nairobi River Commission through a Gazette notice dated December 2, 2022.
The commission was to help bring on board coordination and restore the basin to its former glory.
President William Ruto, in Executive Order No. 1 of 2023, assigned Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua various roles, among them overseeing the restoration of Nairobi River.
Dr Pamela Olet is the chairperson of the commission.
Former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu was named as one of the members of the commission but was rejected through a court process.
Other members include Eva Muhia, who represents riverine communities; Elizabeth Wathuti, who represents civil society; Carlota Dal Lago, who represents the private sector and Elijah Biama and Duncan Ojwang from academia.
There is also Mumo Musuva, a representative from Nairobi County and Grace Mesopirr who represents the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
The members shall hold office for a term of three years, renewable based on performance.
The cleanup operation covers Nairobi, Kiambu, Kajiado, Machakos, and Makueni counties, with actors drawn from various ministries and agencies.
In a past interview with the Star, Olet said nature-based solutions will be used to clean the river.
She said the river is surrounded by many schools and informal settlements.
“Wastewater management is needed, if embraced, we can have water for all,” she said.
Olet said there are several investment opportunities along the basin.
She said education and awareness are required to turn the pollution tide.
Olet said they will have engagements with innovators with a view to finding solutions to some of the problems.
The commission will collaborate with communities and other organisations in the transformation initiatives.
“We will identify initiatives to build capacity on ecosystem restoration for communities,” she said.
“UN-Habitat, UNEP, the World Resource Institute and the Kenya Private Sector Alliance will form part of the advisory group to the commission.”
The commission has examined previous reports and recommendations made to reclaim the river before adoption of lessons from new initiatives.
It gets its funds from appropriations the national government, the Nairobi government and donations.
The World Resources Institute has also committed technical and financial support to the cleanup exercise.
In November last year, the National Environment Management Authority said the government had been given the green light to use Sh1 billion from the Green Climate Fund to clean up the heavily polluted river.
Nema director general Mamo Mamo said the conditions that were given before the state used the resources have since been met.
“We had an engagement with the GCF team in Namibia. We received an indication that they are going to allow us to use the Sh1 billion for the restoration of the Upper Athi River Catchment,” he said.
One of the conditions set by GCF was to open a dollar account, a condition they have already met.
“We also needed to get concurrence from the Water Resource Authority as a partner in the implementation of GCF and also from the Kenya Meteorological Department," Mamo said.
He said the two institutions are executive entities that will work with authority to execute the clean-up.
“We will very soon roll out this project, essentially to undertake three activities. One of the activities is pollution control from the source,” Mamo said.
The GCF regional dialogue with Africa was held from November 6 to 10 last year in Windhoek, Namibia.
He said one of the lessons learned was that clean-ups are not lasting solutions.
"It is important to address the root cause of pollution problem in our aquatic environment, which is… to improve the sewerage system, protect riparian reserves, remove illegal dumping sites along the river and improve sanitation infrastructure in the informal settlements," Mamo said.
He said it is crucial to address the root causes and install effluent treatment plants along the rivers.
Mamo said communities along the riparian land need to be involved in clean-up activities.
He said underground concealed pipes from residential areas and flats were also discharging untreated effluents into the river.
The clean-up of the river comes a few years after Auditor General Nancy Gathungu raised concerns about safety of the water that will be fed into Thwake Dam.
The auditor said the Sh82 billion Thwake dam may turn out to be a white elephant because of polluted, unsafe water.
An environmental and social impact assessment of the project warned that the water will be hard to treat owing to the pollutants.
It cites problems of residual faecal and organic matter from pit latrines, graveyards and waste-holding sites from displaced homesteads and social locations.
The situation undermines the health of people and animals drinking the water.
The main supply of the Thwake dam will be the Athi River, whose main tributary is the Nairobi River, which is polluted with heavy metals.
Over two million people from the lower eastern region plan to use the dam to end their water problem.
The dam, which is being constructed downstream from the Thwake and Athi Rivers, covers 2,470 acres (10 sq m) to create a reservoir of more than 690 million cubic metres.