• Restoring Nairobi's lost glory needs collaboration, funding to take more time to actualise.
• Slums and industries are the main sources of population
Image: PATRICK VIDIJA
It will take up to five years to clean the Nairobi River if funds and collaboration between state agencies were assured, the Star has learnt.
The river is heavily polluted. Increased industrialisation, rapid population growth, mushrooming slums and scarce water resources continue to create major environmental problems for the river.
A team of national and county leaders was formed in April last year to ensure the regeneration of Nairobi. It is co-chaired by Governor Mike Sonko and Tourism CS Najib Balala.
According to its work plan, garbage will be cleared from all 85 electoral wards in Nairobi within 30 days and a clean-up of Nairobi River would follow.
But the team has found the going tough in its efforts to return the river to its lost glory. The first of its hurdles has been raising enough funds for the job.
In March, Environment CS Keriako Tobiko said lack of funds was putting the ambitious plan in jeopardy as only Sh110 million had been allocated to the programme.
City Hall has allocated Sh330 million to the programme under the second supplementary budget of the 2018-19 financial year.
The money will be spent on the regeneration of roads in Eastlands and cleaning the river.
“The first thing we see when we sit with these two agencies is the budgetary allocation. We are optimistic about what we have seen. In three to five years, Nairobi will be covered by sewer,” Nema director general Godfrey Wahungu said.
More alarming, however, is how industrial waste and effluent from slums have affected the river. It is choking from raw sewage and industrial waste.
Kibera slum – one of the biggest in Africa – discharges raw domestic waste into the Ngong River. This has attracted water hyacinth which has covered the entire Nairobi Dam.
Ngong River passes through the city, a distance of 28km, 10 of them through the industrial area.
“Informal guys pollute because there is no money put into expanding some sewerage systems. It is not their fault,” Town planner Lawrence Esho said in a telephone interview.
Esho said public sewer systems must be constructed especially in the informal settlements.
Nema's Wahungu acknowledged that the major problem is that sewer lines were built a long time ago when the population was low.
“We have people in these informal settlements sitting on wayleaves for sewer lines,” Wahungu said. Nema wants the matter of slums addressed.
Early this month, Nema shut five factories in Industrial Area for discharging effluent to the environment.
The factories included Africa Apparel Limited, Mas Tannery, Far Horizon hides and skins, Amin Tanners and Nairobi Tanners Limited.
During the crackdown, five people were arrested.
Wahungu says it is important to factor in sewer projects even as the city invests heavily on water projects.
Some 526,000 cubic metres of water is consumed daily in Nairobi against a demand of 770,000 cubic metres. This means there is a deficit of 244,000 cubic metres a day.
The government is currently implementing the Nairobi City water distribution network modifications project at a cost of Sh3.9 billion.
The project is being implemented by Athi Water Service Board, a state corporation under the Water ministry.
The funding is from Africa Development Bank, the European Union and the national government.
The project is tied to other efforts, particularly the Northern Collector Tunnel Project phase one which will increase the available amount of water for Nairobi by 140,000 cubic metres a day.
Wahungu said the National Assembly Committee on Environment is aware of discrepancies in various laws and has made recommendations on these to be reviewed.
He said the matter has been discussed at the top level of the Nairobi Regeneration committee.
“We enforce for the ecological integrity of the riparian areas where we have seen a conflict between various agencies,” Wahungu said.
Despite these challenges, Nema has already rolled out a 100-day rapid results initiative to clean the environment as well as raise awareness.
(Edited by O. Owino)