Cost of basin clean-up raises eyebrows

Over the past one year, the public has been treated to press reports of an activity taking place in Kibwezi, Makueni County, regarding an alleged oil spill and a follow up oil clean up. To the general public the issues are highly technical and it may not be easy to fully comprehend what the stakes are.

In May 2015 it was reported that some oil leaked from the Kenya Pipeline around River Thange in Kibwezi. A visit to the area shows that the traces of oil were also in the same vicinity where heavy earth moving equipment was excavating the ground for the construction of the standard gauge railway.

For an oil pipeline as old as 40 years, with likely wear here and there, finding an oil leak next to a construction activity nearby is not surprising. The pipeline could have been punctured by the construction activities or the pipeline is so worn out with age that it has perforations. If the latter is true, we could be facing a more serious problem than the public is aware of.

Was it an instantaneous puncture of the pipeline or the pipeline has been leaking for a long time into the ground that the water table is already contaminated?

Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) seems to be sending out contradicting messages on the source of the leak. On one hand, KPC says it was an instantaneous leak that was mopped up. However, an expensive clean-up operation is currently going on, suggesting the water table and the aquifers are heavily contaminated from a prolonged period of oil leaking into the ground.

Kenya Pipeline engineers are reported to have moved  to the site and pumped out the spilled oil and sealed off the source of the leak and, in general, carried out a reasonable mop up of the site. This is not the first time the engineers did this.

They do this all the time along the 40-year-old pipeline. There have been reported spills in Mariakani, Nakuru and many points along the 600km pipeline.

KPC picked the gauntlet and reported that they had identified the source of the leak and sealed it. They further went to report estimated quantities that had leaked from the pipeline. This estimated quantity of leaked oil is fatal to KPC and a justification for an aquifers clean up project. To estimate how much oil was spilled means KPC was aware of the period when the leak took place.

KPC LOST 200,000 LITRES

It is this one untruth here that may prove to be technically inconsistent with the remediation solution currently being undertaken.

From their calculations based on fuel received and delivery records, they say KPC may have probably lost 200,000 litres of fuel oil.

If KPC says this was an instantaneous puncture of the pipeline then the leaked oil has had no time period to percolate into the ground to contaminate the water table, given that diffusion of oil through the soil all the way to the water table and aquifers is a very slow process.

Clean-up of the water table is definitely not justified. If on the other hand the leak process had been going on over such a long period, that it reached the water table, justifying a clean up, then KPC has no clue as to how much oil has leaked over, say a 10-year period, to come up with the figure of 200,000 litres.

In the middle of these alarming reports, the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) reacted by issuing a “Restoration Order” to KPC.  A restoration order by any means is not a licence to rob a bank no matter how well intentioned one is to the environment.

The Nema restoration order seems to have set off a flurry of activities at KPC. 

The engineers estimated that a proper clean up, if necessary at all, would cost Sh40 million. Remember 200,000 litres of lost fuel oil has a market value of about Sh20 million. So this estimate for cost of a clean-up seems to have been economically reasonable. Interestingly, the cost estimates were revised upwards, first to Sh70 million, then to Sh140 million, and finally settling at the current reported value of Sh1.6 billion.

Sh1.6 billion to clean up an oil spill valued at Sh20 million in an area of 10 acres of no known economic activity with a population that may not fill up a village “Roho Msalaba” church?

In conclusion, KPC must come clean as to what exactly it is cleaning up in Thange. What is the justification for such a costly clean-up? Are the aquifers polluted? When and how will the cleanup be declared complete?

Prof Philip Mwabe is an environmental consultant; [email protected].