The National Environment Management Authority has shut down a slaughterhouse in Kendu Bay for discharging untreated waste into Lake Victoria.
Nema officials and police officers also arrested the slaughterhouse proprietor for operating the business without an effluent discharge licence.
The facility in Kendu Bay Old Town was found to be violating water quality regulations of 2006.
It had a trench dug to direct animal waste and dirty water into the lake and was operating without valid documents from Nema.
Homa Bay County Nema Director John Maniafu said on Friday that the facility was discharging untreated effluent, terming it a threat to marine life and local ecology.
“Many people depend on the lake as source livelihoods. Effluent discharge from the slaughterhouse was unsafe for both aquatic animals, plants and human life," Maniafu said.
Nema is cracking down on effluent discharge and banned plastic bags countrywide.
It is targeting facilities that dispose of their waste into lakes, rivers and on the soil.
Maniafu said they will shut down and arrest people operating businesses without Nema approval.
“We’re not relenting any time soon. Nema laws demand that people engage in activities which don’t pollute the environment,” he said.
Maniafu said facilities with effluent discharge need to regularly take samples of their waste to government laboratories for tests before they are approved.
Facilities that are supposed to apply for discharge licence after analysis of effluent include factories, hotels, petrol stations and other facilities that have septic tanks.
“There is a standard on what can be released into the environment. What is harmful to biological organisms should not be let out,” the official said.
Sixteen people have been arrested in Homa Bay for violating environmental requirements including using banned plastic carrier bags.
(Edited by V. Graham)
