Poor sanitation a ticking time bomb in Rift Valley towns

The putrid stench of waste water hits you as you approach Kaptimbor street in Kabarnet town, Baringo County.

Resident Stella Kipsang says she lives in great discomfort. The stench engulfs her house and filthy sewage water flows freely on one side of the compound.

“I recently fell ill and I suspect this was caused by the smell of this water. I had a headache and stomach pain, so I bought antibiotics. I did not go to hospital. I do not have money,” she explained.

Neighbours, too, endure the same problems. Most families have young children, who risk their health daily at a nearby playground, most of which is covered with sewage water. Even the dry pathways have traces of the dirty water.

“I have young children in primary school. Most of them complain of stomachaches and headaches. I frequently treat them with simple antibiotics,” Mrs Kipsang added.

This is just one illustration of the ticking time bomb of poor waste disposal in several Rift Valley towns.

Poor waste water management

The towns of Nakuru, Narok, Kabarnet, Eldama Ravine, Bomet and Kericho have been grappling with poor waste water management since before devolution.

Despite the population explosion in the towns that also serve as headquarters for various counties, they still lack proper sewerage systems, nine years after the advent of devolution.

Not even threats by residents to sue the government over poor sanitation have brought any changes.

And the poor management of sewage could soon lead to an environmental disaster.

Hoteliers, traders and residents are left to pay huge sums of money for exhausters to empty their septic tanks and transport the waste to disposal areas.

Ends up in rivers

But most of the waste ends up in rivers and main water sources downstream, putting residents at risk of contracting waterborne diseases like typhoid, dysentery and cholera.

The lack of sewerage systems means property owners must use septic tanks to dispose of solid human waste, which is then siphoned by hired exhausters, thereby pushing up the cost of housing.

In Baringo County, Kabarnet, the headquarters of the devolved unit, does not have a sewer line and traders and hoteliers here have been relying on open lagoons for waste disposal, posing a health hazard to the population.

The town with colonial roots does not have a sewer system. During rain seasons, traders and residents flush raw sewage to rivers and other nearby water sources.

Recently, during a tour of the town by Labour Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui, Governor Stanley Chelugui pleaded with the national government to help the county establish a proper sewerage system for Kabarnet.

"We are calling on the national government to fast-track the construction of the sewerage and waste management system as this will help boost sanitation in the town," Mr Kiptis said.

Empty promises

"The government is doing a disservice by giving us empty promises over the years. How can you explain a situation where a town, which is the county headquarters, has no sewer line since colonial times? As we speak, locals are at risk of contracting diseases owing to the raw sewage flowing all over," Kabarnet Ward Representative Ernest Kibet said.

Deputy President William Ruto, during a tour of Baringo in 2018, promised that the government would set up a sewerage system for the town.

In May 2021 residents and traders threatened to sue the government for failing to establish sewerage systems in Kabarnet and Eldama-Ravine towns.

Led by Lawrence Bomet, a member of the Lembus council of elders in Eldama Ravine, they argued that rental houses and lodges were improperly disposing of raw sewage.

Kabarnet and Eldama-Ravine have more than 100,000 people each.

When it rains, water floods businesses and stinking toilets render business impossible.

Growing population

In Nakuru town, which is to be awarded a charter to become a city, residents have for years grappled with a ramshackle, old sewerage system reeling under the pressure of a growing population.

Hundreds of thousands of residents are not connected to the sewerage system, which covers only 27 percent of the municipality, exposing thousands of people to health risks, according to data from the public health department.

The municipality, with a population of 367,183 people, has an aged and overstretched sewerage system that is prone to frequent bursts, due to the ever increasing population.

Dozens of estates, including Bismarck and Ranges View, which neighbours the upmarket Milimani Estate, lack connections to the sewer system.

Located in an affluent zone, Ranges View is sandwiched between Milimani Estate, the White House Commercial Centre and Kenya Industrial Training Institute (KITI).

Other sections of Nakuru that are not linked to the available, old sewer line system are Kiamunyi and the informal settlements of Kivumbini, Lake View, Kwa Rhoda, Kaptembwa, Kaloleni and Bondeni.

Septic tanks

Residents in these estates use septic tanks to dispose of household waste.

When the tanks fill up, they hire exhausters to transport the waste to the main sewer treatment plant.

"We have no option but to use the services of exhausters to maintain our sanitation even though it has been very expensive in areas with a large population,” says Juma Apusayi, who owns rental property at Ranges View estate.

The cost of hauling away the waste ranges between Sh2,000 and Sh3,000 per trip and owners of the exhauster tankers do good business all year around.

Residents told the Nation that raw sewerage is a common sight in areas connected to old sewer lines, which sometimes burst and leak, putting them at risk of contracting diseases.

“The sewer lines sometimes burst due to pressure and because they are old. The situation gets worse during the rainy season. We call upon the county government to help upgrade and expand the sewerage system to avoid frequent bursts,” said Kwa Rhonda resident John Kariuki.

The county government says it has embarked on an elaborate plan to upgrade the sewerage system as Nakuru becomes a city.

"We are working to upgrade our sewer system at a cost of Sh1billion, as we await the implementation of the Sh3.5 billion biodiversity project funded by the German Development Bank. We want to increase coverage as Nakuru seeks city status," revealed a county official.

The official also disclosed that the county will also upgrade its two existing treatment plants in Kivumbini and Mwariki.

In 2019, the county government secured Sh3.5 billion from the German bank to improve biodiversity and sanitation.

In the long run, Nakuru plans to also use part of the money to revamp its solid waste management, upgrade the 40-year old sewerage system, and enhance separation of storm water and waste water from residential areas for appropriate filtering and safe disposal.

With households in Nakuru generating about 300 million litres of waste water a day, according to statistics from the county water and sanitation department, only residents in Milimami, Langa, London, the town centre, Racecourse and Freehold estates have access to sewerage services.

Nakuru has been losing millions of shillings due to poor sanitation.

Hefty expenses

In Narok Town, residents have for long borne the heavy burden of hefty expenses resulting from lack of a reliable sewer system.

This not only affects the health of residents but also dents their incomes as property owners spend thousands of shillings each month to extract and dispose of human waste.

Only 0.5 per cent of households in Narok are connected to the main sewer while about 2.1 per cent use septic tanks, the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census report showed.

On the other hand, almost half of Narok’s population (49.2 per cent) use covered pit latrines and 28.2 per cent use the open bush for human waste disposal.

Residents express their frustration at having to pay each month for exhauster services, which have consequently pushed rents higher as landlords pass the costs to their tenants.

“We have suffered for far too long as we are forced to pay each month for exhauster services. There is a serious problem here in Narok. We do not have a proper sewer system,” said resident Daniel Ombati.

“We usually use exhauster services. Because of this, we see a lot of sewer flowing in the town, even near places where we eat or do our business.”

Narok town sewerage plant

But the Nation has learnt that this problem is bound to be minimised following the completion of an ambitious project to install a Sh1.7 billion, 51km sewerage system that will see residents connected to a single sewer line.

The project, funded by the government of Kenya in collaboration with the Africa Development Bank, commenced in April 2019 and is expected to be commissioned soon by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Touring the project last month, a delegation led by Water Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki and Governor Samuel Tunai said the project was 100 per cent complete.

CS Kariuki reported that the main trunk sewer and secondary sewers for the sewage treatment works had been completed.

This is the first sewerage plant in the town, completed barely a year since the town was upgraded to a municipality.

“This project cost the government and partners Sh1.7 billion and we are glad that it was completed within the stipulated period of one year and half. This will also provide a platform for irrigation in the surrounding villages,” Ms Kariuki said.

Ready for commissioning

The system, she said, had been tested before the contractor handed over the project to the government for commissioning.

Governor Tunai described the project as a major milestone and a boost to investor confidence.

“Every time I speak with investors they always ask me whether we have a sewerage system, water and electricity, and we have had the latter but sewerage has been the problem,” he said.

“Narok is among the leading wheat/barley producers in the country. Narok town is also a gateway to the world-famous Maasai Mara National Reserve. With the sewerage now available, the future is bright.”

The sewer system is another major amenity in the town after President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2017 launched a mega water project financed by the government in collaboration with Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) to the tune of Sh1.5 billion.

The installation saw 45,000 town dwellers benefit from clean water channelled by the Narok Water and Sewerage Services Company.

The sewer system was built by Sinohydro Corporation Ltd under Rift Valley Water Works that began work at the site early last year.

Human waste

The initiative is a big plus for business people and residents of the town of over 60,000 people. Human waste used to spill into the Enkare Narok River that runs through the town.

For lack of an alternative site, the exhausters transport the effluent to Bomet County.

Depending on septic tanks meant that property owners had to bear the cost of transporting the waste out of Narok, said Patrick Narankaik, the caretaker of Olmaji Building.

Mr Narankaik said they have been paying Sh4,000 for a three-tonne exhauster, while a seven-tonne one charged Sh25,000.

"Our hotel is in the Narok CBD and we have a lot of people using our facilities. As such, the septic tank fills up quickly. In a week we empty it three times at accost of more than Sh75,000," he said.

He said there are only two exhausters in the town and sometimes they cannot handle the demand from hoteliers.

"All our profits go into disposal of human waste and we find ourselves with no profit at all. We call on the county government to speed up the building of the sewer system which was launched last year," he added.

Some hoteliers drain raw sewage into the drying Enkare Narok River as they seek to avoid paying for exhauster services. While the river is completely dry upstream, ironically, on entering the town, raw sewage flows freely.

The sewerage systems in Bomet and Kericho towns also do not cover large parts of the towns.

Bomet Water Company Ltd operates two sewage treatment plants in the western part of the town for wastewater collection, treatment and safe disposal.

The county says it is expanding sewerage services to other parts of the town.

A report by the World Health Organisation and Unicef Joint Monitoring Programme shows that it costs Kenya an estimated $324 million (Sh3.24 billion) annually to bridge the gaps in its sanitation and hygiene services.

Basic services overwhelmed

The challenge is even more daunting in urban centres than in rural areas as population growth overwhelms basic services such as sanitation.

Moreover, urban planning hardly precedes settlement, making it much harder for utilities to provide water and sanitation services.

As part of its development goals, including Vision 2030, Kenya had set a target of 40 per cent sewerage collection, treatment, and disposal in urban centres and 10 per cent in rural areas by 2015.

However, this has not been achieved in many counties, primarily due to lack of funds and reliable technology, as well as high maintenance costs.

Similarly, a lack of proper settlement planning, especially in rural areas, makes it even more difficult to set up adequate sewerage systems.

About 30 million Kenyans still use unsafe sanitation methods like rudimentary types of latrines, and six million defecate in the open. This is not limited to rural areas as access to improved sanitation is a major challenge in urban and rural areas.

Having a toilet, either connected or not connected to a piped wastewater system, is only one part of faecal waste management.

Inter-linkages with other services, including storm water drainage, solid waste and water supply further compound sanitation in urban areas.

For this reason, a suitable sewerage system should incorporate plans for maintenance.

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