Urban Presence: Nairobi River’s Choked Arteries

The Nairobi Dam should be a source of pride for the city, the way Uhuru Park or KICC are for instance. Sadly, this is anything but the case. First built as a reservoir in 1953, the Dam (as it became known, lending its name to an estate that borders it on it’s south side) has seen a steady decline of its state, from the glorious days of being home to a sailing club and having children take a dip in it’s then pristine waters, to currently being a filthy dumpsite.
Because of the constant effluent that would begin from the abattoirs in Dagoretti to the rivers of untreated
waste that flow unchecked into the dam itself, Nairobi River which feeds it, has seen better times. According
to a recent study done by Kenyatta University, the river is highly polluted, which, given the turbidity and the physical dumping one can see in the murky river waters, rather goes without saying. In 1998, the nadir came when the hyacinth turned what was already becoming a cesspool into what looks like a giant misshapen field on Google Maps.
We are all aware of it. The stench as you approach Nairobi Dam, the amount of garbage and industrial effluent that enters the river even after it leaves the dam and heads downstream to join up with Athi River. In that brief trip,
It has collected deadly coliforms which when investigated along the river exceeded the Kenya Bureau of Standards guidelines with Kamukunji, Mwiki and Ruai stations registering values of 30, 34 and 38 colonies respectively in stagnant waters.

The ideal levels of coliform colonies for water to be considered safe for use is zero. The presence of enteric bacteria, such as the coliforms was an indication of serious contamination of Nairobi River. A large number
of these coliforms are indicated to have come from the abattoirs and human waste. In Kibera, where the dam is situated, effluent and other hazardous chemicals have raised the levels of algae in the water (a station in Ruai recorded algae levels of nearly ten times the level considered clean).

Algae is a serious indicator of pollution. We do see, however, literal hills of polythene bags heaping up by the sides of the rivers, where, coincidentally, it is estimated that 56 percent of slum dwellers in Nairobi’s slum live within the same river basins. The correlation is not lost on us. Majority of the dumping and effluent comes from these same
slums who, for better or for worse, depend upon these rivers for their survival. The levels of contaminants, pollution and harmful organic materials have not been the only source of concern. Along the river there are reports of street children carried away and drowned in its murky waters, sometimes getting trapped by the trash that, in a sad irony, many of them collect to sell in order to survive. During the shooting of these images, one man walking by who requested anonymity, said it was common to have bodies of children being pulled out from under some of those bridges.

Is this our story? It surely is the tale our river tells us.

This article was first published on UP Magazine Vol 6.06 The Not So Green Issue. Read it on Joomag Here.