Experts call for quick action and better policies to save the Nzoia

Chris Opiyo holds dead fish from River Nzoia PHOTO | TOM OTIENO

What you need to know:

  • While environmentalists and public health officers are deeply worried that fish in the river are dying in large numbers, the locals are only too happy that fishing has become so easy – simply pick as many as you can and go.
  • So huge was the number of dead fish that local health experts warned the villagers, via a local FM station, not to eat the fish fearing they might have been contaminated and unfit for human consumption. But some ignored the warning.
  • The pollution of the Nzoia, which drains its waters into Lake Victoria, the largest, tropical, fresh-water lake in the world, has been blamed on poor agricultural practices and chemicals being discharged into the river by factories.

It is 2pm on a Monday when catch up with Chris Opiyo Maninga on the shores of River Nzoia, not too far from Uhiu Village in Siaya County.

He has just come from his sand harvesting job, which earns him an average of Sh250 a day, and is settling down to begin fishing to earn a little extra cash.

Not that he even has to cast a  net into the waters, no. Maninga simply sits at a strategic point close to the water’s edge and fish in the throes of death come floating to the surface thanks to the river’s heavily polluted waters.

But even though he is aware that the fish might not be good for human consumption — he explains that fish should not be dead before they are caught — the thought of earning extra cash without breaking a sweat is just irresistible.

“I know it is bad, but I want to get the fish before they die, when they are still fresh, and sell them,” he explains.

River Nzoia  traverses five counties, namely Trans Nzoia, Kakamega, Kisumu, Siaya and Busia on its way to Lake Victoria, and during our visit to the shores close to Uhiu Village, we come across an interesting paradox:  while environmentalists and public health officers are deeply worried that fish in the river are dying in large numbers, the locals are only too happy that fishing has become so easy – simply pick as many as you can and go.

NO AIR

During our visit, the devastating effects of pollution were evident, with the smell of the water itself striking you from a distance. 

According to local residents, the smaller fish die first. And from our observation, watching them in the throes of death is a disturbing sight for any lover of nature.

Vitalis Odipo, a sand harvester who operates three boats on the river, said  the last two weeks of March were particularly bad.

“The water was black, completely black. The fish kept dying and floating to the surface,” he recalled.

Odipo thinks something serious has been happening but isn’t sure what.

“They usually die, but the numbers that died during the last two weeks March has astounded many,” he added.

So huge was the number that local health experts warned the villagers, via a local FM station, not to eat the fish fearing they might have been contaminated and unfit for human consumption. But some ignored the warning.

Dr Omondi Owino, the Siaya County director of health, said the villagers were lucky not to have died after eating the fish.

He said the pollution was so serious that the county had asked its community health workers to be on the lookout for any cases of diarrhoea or vomiting that might have been caused by eating the fish.

“Nothing like this has ever happened before. The number of fish involved and the way they died baffled all of us,” he said.

A preliminary report showed that the water contained levels of chemicals that were so high, they were killing vital bacteria in the bodies of fish. This means the fish’s ability to draw oxygen from the river, whose supply has been reduced, was greatly hampered. 

Prof Raphael Kapiyo of Maseno University’s School of Environment and Art Sciences blamed the situation on the lack of support for conservation efforts.

dead fish

Chris Opiyo holds dead fish from River Nzoia.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

FACTORIES' DISCHARGE

“The way most rivers have been eroded and degraded, they cannot sustain life. For conservationists, the question is how much more one can really do to protect nature,” Prof Kapiyo said.

“There’s really nothing much the local fishermen can do. And the more scarce fish becomes because of pollution, the fewer the choices local people will have of the type of fish to eat,”  he said.

Although Odipo agrees with the health director that the fish had never died in such large numbers before, he is not overly alarmed. 

The hides and skins seller-turned-sand harvester says it happens every year, but on  a much smaller scale every year. 

“I think this is a case where the people who have been tasked with caring for the environment destroy the very river that provides them with the water they use in their industries,” he said.

Sand harvesters who spoke to DN2 said they frequently experience breathing problems when they are in the river, but it looks as if their skins have also been affected.  

Indeed, one sand harvester, Nicholas Oduor, blamed the polluted water for their dry skins; his skin was cracked and pale.

“Sometimes our skins get dry and itchy, and  it’s hard to breathe underwater,” he said.

However, Oduor considers what he calls “petty skin problems” a worthwhile price to pay for the easy manner in which he is able to catch fish. 

The pollution of the Nzoia, which drains its waters into Lake Victoria, the largest, tropical, fresh-water lake in the world, has been blamed on poor agricultural practices and chemicals being discharged into the river by factories.

The apparent lack of interest shown by people like Odipo and Opiyo in conserving  the river, or even reporting the pollution to the authorities, has also been cited as a reason for the escalating pollution.

Environmentalists say that the pollution starts right from the catchment area.

HEAVY METALS

River Nzoia has three catchment areas, with the upper one in Cherang’any in Trans Nzoia county being doing the most damage.

Mr Jared Gambo, an environmental officer at Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA), said the pollution from the upper area is attributable to poor land use.

“A high population and the agricultural activities in the Cherang’any and Mt Elgon areas have significantly affected the river,” he said. “Soil erosion is a big problem in the area, and the fertilizers the farmers use contain chemicals that lead to eutrophication, (a situation that leads to reduced oxygen).”

Mr Gambo attributed the fish deaths to the accumulation of waste and pesticides in the agricultural areas where the river’s tributaries originate.

In the middle catchment area, Mr Gambo said, industries, including two sugar factories, were the contributing factors. He said the effluents the companies discharge into the river contains heavy metals, which clog the fish’s respiratory systems, resulting in death.

“A high number of dead fish is being reported in the river, and the chemicals in the water have significantly contributed to this,” he said.

The environmentalist’s view is backed by a 2011 report by scholars from Masinde Muliro and Maseno universities, which blamed the death of fish downstream on the companies that dishcharge their waste into the river.

However, Mrs Stella Nganyi, the Kakamega Counter director of environment, said that Nema had moved in promptly and contained the situation before it could spread.

“It was a high level risk with the potential of killing many people and we had to act fast and firmly. They  [the pollutants] was a threat to the life of the fish and the people there,” she said.

An environmental impact study was done immediately after  March 15, the day on which  unprecedented numbers of fish died. However, it was not easy to assess the situation since the  deaths occurred downstream, Mrs Nganyi said. She said that some of the companies close to the river had been used their waste management systems to discharge effluents that were harmful to fish in the river.

She said after the assessment, Mumias Sugar Company was ordered not to discharge any more waste into the river because of the  havoc it was causing downstream.

“The order achieved two  things:  It stopped the discharge of effluents offered a way  of ensuring that it does not happen again,” said Mrs Nganyi.

However,  when contacted, Mumias Sugar Company refuted the claims.

“We are part of the bigger efforts to ensure that we conserve the environment. Our sewage system has been certified by Nema,” the company’s communication and marketing manager, Mrs Margaret Makhungu said.

Mr Gambo recommended that sustainable, integrated water resource management be introduced to restore the quality River Nzoia’s waters. He said there was a linkage between the river’s current state  and the activities of the people around it.

“There is a need to conserve the river by treating waste before it is  discharged, as well as to promote proper land use,” said Mr Gambo.  “The government, as the highest stakeholder, should take the responsibility of educating people to embrace sustainable land activities such as agroforestry, which will help in conserving River Nzoia.”

VICTIM OF SUCCESS

And regarding agricultural activities as causes of pollution, a 2012 study by Moi University and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari, now Kalro) lay blame on the use of pesticides on various farms which, ironically, use the river’s water for irrigation. 

The study found out that the river had “become a victim of the very agricultural activities it had helped prosper.”

To reduce the amount of pesticides  flowing into the river, the study said, farmers should be given environmental-friendly fertilizer.

But Prof Kapiyo thinks that the war is almost lost.

“While a paltry 10 per cent  of the population knows that they have to preserve the environment, 90 per cent of us cannot wait for nature to rebuild itself and are busy destroying it,” he lamented. “It is a delicate, scary scenario that worries me. We appear to have said yes, the water is polluted but we will use it as it is, anyway. That, to me, is the height of the loss of the fight to conserve the environment, not just for ourselves, but for future generations as well.”

Prof Kapiyo’s fears might not be far-fetched.

For instance  Odipo,  who has seen the river’s water turn from crystal clear to black over the years, says he has got used to the river’s polluted water and has learnt to live with it.

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TOXIC WASTE

A section of River Nzoia on Busia Kisumu road in Siaya County. PHOTO | TOM OTIENO

What one study on effluents suggested

A report by Destaings Nyongesa of Maseno University, Neyole Masinde and Miima J.B of Masinde Muliro University and Moses Akali of the Kenya Institute of Management in 2012 recommended that the companies discharging waste into River Nzoia be more cautious when doing so.

Titled “Effluent Discharge by Mumias Sugar Company in Kenya: An Empirical Investigation of the Pollution of River Nzoia”, the report warned that if environmental conservation agencies did not act fast, all the fish downstream would soon die.

It warned that the high level of pollution —  the quantities exceed those allowed by the National Environment Management Agency and the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) — posed a serious threat to the fertility of agricultural land irrigated using the river.

It  faulted the company for reducing oxygen supply through the production of toxic waste, adding that besides the pollution’s effect on the environment, it  posed a serious threat to the local residents in other ways.

WASTE AUDITS

“Beyond the ecological consequences such spoilage of natural water ways, it has potential social impacts such as hampering the livelihoods of local fishermen and farmers, curtailing any recreational uses, and casting a shadow on the “social corporate responsibility” of the source of pollutants, “ the report said.

It noted that  there was a need for the Mumias Sugar Company to embrace cleaner production technologies to ensure an improvement of in-plant pollution prevention measures to minimise the volume and pollution loading in the waste water before discharging it into the river.

The report further suggested that the company carry out periodic “waste audits” for water use to identify the level of waste discharge and also improve its treatment process and maintain consistency thereafter.

In their report, the scholars asked the government to ensure that the concerned companies complied with environmental standards by enforcing regulations and legislation governing the environment.

Remarkably, the study found that River Nzoia’s  had “powerful self-purification power,” as evidenced fb what was going on downstream at the time.

However, the recent deaths of fish downstream, where it should be safe, has got environmentalists and government agencies truly worried.