Effects Associated with Processing Ballast and Waste Oil at Port Reitz, Mombasa-Kenya

This study was carried out in response to a complaint regarding environmental pollution, arising from the processing of ballast water and waste oil on the premises of the landlord on Plot No. LR 1192/VI/MN, Port Reitz, Mombasa. The plot is designated commercial for purposes of land use purposes, and its tenant had been undertaking a ballast water/oil sludge scheming process to obtain fuel oil, which he sold to industrialists. This had resulted in damage to the environment as the facility incorporated no safeguard to address oil spills and no drainage system to contain waste discharges from the process. The study was undertaken to establish the level of environmental damage, propose rehabilitation costs, and offer recommendations for remedial measures. The study was realised through desk study, field visits, digging and sampling of soils for analysis. The results showed that between 60-70% of the soil in the premise was contaminated with oil, penetrating at least one meter deep. Effect from the oil contamination manifested in the failure of the soils to support growth of new vegetation, while existing tree plants were withered. The impact from this was the loss of aesthetic beauty of the property, reducing its amenity value. Percolation of oil underground in porous rock formation has potential to contaminate groundwater, threating the quality status of this resource for domestic purposes. The process activities were also of health concern since no safeguards had been provided to protect the workers from direct contact the oil. Hydrocarbon oils when exposed to hot climatic conditions like those prevalent in Mombasa, which provide high solar radiation have the potential to breakdown, emitting some toxic and potentially carcinogenic substances. The facility therefore exposed the workers to the dangers of contracting cancer through inhalation of the emissions with potential long term health consequences. Finally, the massive physical environmental damage on the premises means rehabilitation costs could be high. Estimates indicated that as much as US$100,000 would be required to restore the premises to a condition that would allow natural regeneration. The findings also indicate that the activity being undertaken, is not the best land-use for the area. It is consequently recommended that if the activity must continue, then it must be conducted according to established guidelines. Otherwise, it is ideal that it is ceased, and rehabilitation works, commenced. It is also observed that important potential effects were not included in this research. Ballast water is known to introduce invasive species. Efforts therefore need to be undertaken to determine the presence such species in the neighbourhood before they attain pest proportions. Keywords: Ballast water, MARPOL, oil sludge; air, soil and groundwater contamination, environmental damage, health effects, toxic substances carcinogenic products.

The Effects and Impacts of Quarrying on Forest Land: the Case of Gami Quarries, Mwache Forest, Kwale County, Kenya

This paper highlights the effects and impacts of quarrying on Forest Land, with Mwache Forest, located in the Kwale County, whose land use is defined as conservation –as the study case. Despite the defined land-use, Gami Quarries Ltd had been given the rights of exploiting the rock out-crop in the forest to make ballast –a raw material needed in the construction industry. Ballast processing operations were initiated through blasting the rock structure using explosives inserted onto holes drilled on the rock, disseminating it into boulders that were sized into smaller rocks that were transported for processing into ballast. The explosions resulted into the generation of wave energy that weakened the rock formation and, damaged the existing neighbouring infrastructure; it produced dust and higher levels of noise. Transport of the rock material for processing into ballast, resulted in the emission of fugitive dust due to tracking on the unpaved road. This was in addition to the emission of the oxides of nitrogen and sulphur, carbon monoxide, suspended particle matter (SPM) and, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the poorly maintained diesel engine powered tracks. The significance of air pollution from the ballast-making operational processes was low, bearing the wind regime, which scattered and diluted the pollutants. Run-off from the quarry spoils however introduced undesirable elements in water; while lack of sanitation on-site was recipe for transmission of water borne disease. Quarrying for ballast exposed the groundwater aquifer, making it vulnerable to contamination; it at the same time led to the potential of altering the existing drainage characteristics, interfering with stream flow and aquifer recharge. Quarrying created Bad Lands, exposed the bed rock to erosion and reduced the moisture content usually experienced in forested land with impact on local ecology, arising from the destruction of the habitat. The effects of enhanced noise from the blasting operations was traced into hearing loss among the workers; the noise also disturbed wildlife and grazing animals. Fire-outbreaks were also potential due to the explosives use, it could also result from the domestic activities of the workers. Fire outbreak on dry forest could lead to severe and significant effects, including the loss of life. On occupational health and safety matters, the workers have had to do with the consequences of potential exposure to dust, potential injuries from flying blasted rock debri, from the impacts of water borne and, water related diseases and, high levels of noise. To minimize the identified effects and impacts, operating rules had been given. These offered adequate protection. However, it was recognized that the rules and procedures ought to be engraved into an Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan in order to promote sustainability of the actions. This had not been done. Key words: quarrying, dust, noise, pollution, habitat destruction, water borne and water related diseases, cancer, operating rules and procedure

Methylene Blue Adsorption onto Coconut husks/Polylactide Blended Films: Equilibrium and Kinetic Studies

The removal of cationic methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solutions by coconut husks/polylactide blended films was studied in a batch system. Experiments were modeled as a function of contact time, initial dye concentration, ionic strength, adsorbent dose, temperature and initial solution pH. Equilibrium data fitted the Langmuir isotherm model (R2>0.9866) with monolayer adsorption capacity qm = 16.34mg/g at 296K. Adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second model (R2>0.9997) hence chemisorption rate limiting step was dominant. The results have shown viability of coconut husks/polylactide blended films for the removal of recalcitrant MB from both domestic and industrial wastewaters. Key words: coconut husks, polylactide, methylene blue, isotherm, kinetic

Improving the implementation of health workforce policies through governance: a review of case studies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Responsible governance is crucial to national development and a catalyst for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. To date, governance seems to have been a neglected issue in the field of human resources for health (HRH), which could be an important reason why HRH policy formulation and implementation is often poor. This article aims to describe how governance issues have influenced HRH policy development and to identify governance strategies that have been used, successfully or not, to improve HRH policy implementation in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a descriptive literature review of HRH case studies which describe or evaluate a governance-related intervention at country or district level in LMIC. In order to systematically address the term 'governance' a framework was developed and governance aspects were regrouped into four dimensions: 'performance', 'equity and equality', 'partnership and participation' and 'oversight'.</p> <p>Results and discussion</p> <p>In total 16 case studies were included in the review and most of the selected studies covered several governance dimensions. The dimension 'performance' covered several elements at the core of governance of HRH, decentralization being particularly prominent. Although improved equity and/or equality was, in a number of interventions, a goal, inclusiveness in policy development and fairness and transparency in policy implementation did often not seem adequate to guarantee the corresponding desirable health workforce scenario. Forms of partnership and participation described in the case studies are numerous and offer different lessons. Strikingly, in none of the articles was 'partnerships' a core focus. A common theme in the dimension of 'oversight' is local-level corruption, affecting, amongst other things, accountability and local-level trust in governance, and its cultural guises. Experiences with accountability mechanisms for HRH policy development and implementation were lacking.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This review shows that the term 'governance' is neither prominent nor frequent in recent HRH literature. It provides initial lessons regarding the influence of governance on HRH policy development and implementation. The review also shows that the evidence base needs to be improved in this field in order to better understand how governance influences HRH policy development and implementation. Tentative lessons are discussed, based on the case studies.</p

Comparison of four outdoor mosquito trapping methods as potential replacements for human landing catches in western Kenya

Introduction Longitudinal monitoring of outdoor-biting malaria vector populations is becoming increasingly important in understanding the dynamics of residual malaria transmission. However, the human landing catch (HLC), the gold standard for measuring human biting rates indoors and outdoors, is costly and raises ethical concerns related to increased risk of infectious bites among collectors. Consequently, routine data on outdoor-feeding mosquito populations are usually limited because of the lack of a scalable tool with similar sensitivity to outdoor HLC. Methodology The Anopheles trapping sensitivity of four baited proxy outdoor trapping methods—Furvela tent trap (FTT), host decoy trap (HDT), mosquito electrocuting traps (MET) and outdoor CDC light traps (OLT)—was assessed relative to HLC in a 5 × 5 replicated Latin square conducted over 25 nights in two villages of western Kenya. Indoor CDC light trap (ILT) was run in one house in each of the compounds with outdoor traps, while additional non-Latin square indoor and outdoor HLC collections were performed in one of the study villages. Results The MET, FTT, HDT and OLT sampled approximately 4.67, 7.58, 5.69 and 1.98 times more An. arabiensis compared to HLC, respectively, in Kakola Ombaka. Only FTT was more sensitive relative to HLC in sampling An. funestus in Kakola Ombaka (RR = 5.59, 95% CI 2.49–12.55, P < 0.001) and Masogo (RR = 4.38, 95% CI 1.62–11.80, P = 0.004) and in sampling An. arabiensis in Masogo (RR = 5.37, 95% CI 2.17–13.24, P < 0.001). OLT sampled significantly higher numbers of An. coustani in Kakola Ombaka (RR = 3.03, 95% CI 1.65–5.56, P < 0.001) and Masogo (RR = 2.88, 95% CI 1.15–7.22, P = 0.02) compared to HLC. OLT, HLC and MET sampled mostly An. coustani, FTT had similar proportions of An. funestus and An. arabiensis, while HDT sampled predominantly An. arabiensis in both villages. FTT showed close correlation with ILT in vector abundance for all three species at both collection sites. Conclusion FTT and OLT are simple, easily scalable traps and are potential replacements for HLC in outdoor sampling of Anopheles mosquitoes. However, the FTT closely mirrored indoor CDC light trap in mosquito indices and therefore may be more of an indoor mimic than a true outdoor collection tool. HDT and MET show potential for sampling outdoor host-seeking mosquitoes. However, the traps as currently designed may not be feasible for large-scale, longitudinal entomological monitoring. Therefore, the baited outdoor CDC light trap may be the most appropriate tool currently available for assessment of outdoor-biting and malaria transmission risk

Health worker motivation in the context of HIV care and treatment challenges in Mbeya Region, Tanzania: A qualitative study

Health worker motivation can potentially affect the provision of health services. The HIV pandemic has placed additional strain on health service provision through the extra burden of increased testing and counselling, treating opportunistic infections and providing antiretroviral treatment. The aim of this paper is to explore the challenges generated by HIV care and treatment and their impact on health worker motivation in Mbeya Region, Tanzania. Thirty in-depth interviews were conducted with health workers across the range of health care professions in health facilities in two high HIV-prevalence districts of Mbeya Region, Tanzania. A qualitative framework analysis was adopted for data analysis. The negative impact of HIV-related challenges on health worker motivation was confirmed by this study. Training seminars and workshops related to HIV contributed to the shortage of health workers in the facilities. Lower status workers were frequently excluded from training and were more severely affected by the consequent increase in workload as seminars were usually attended by higher status professionals who controlled access. Constant and consistent complaints by clients have undermined health workers' expectations of trust and recognition. Health workers were forced to take responsibility for dealing with problems arising from organisational inefficiencies within the health system. HIV-related challenges undermine motivation among health workers in Mbeya, Tanzania with the burden falling most heavily on lower status workers. Strained relations between health workers and the community they serve, further undermine motivation of health workers

Urbanization and Groundwater Pollution in Mombasa-Kenya: Do we have to Transfer the Problem due to Construction of the Dongo-Kundu By-Pass

We show how a bridge and good road network opened up the Mombasa County to rapid urbanization and growth of human settlements beyond the ability of Local Government to provide the infrastructure for human waste management, leading to pollution of groundwater aquifers and effects in public health. We caution that the same would happen in the Kwale County upon construction of the Dongo-Kundu By-Pass linking it to Mombasa. Up to 1979, the population distribution in the Mombasa County was restricted by difficulties of access, particularly at its potential district of Kisauni, which though offering plenty of land for housing development, was not overpopulated due to difficult to access. However, upon construction of the Nyali Bridge the early 1980s, the population dynamics shifted, making Kisauni the most populated area. It remains so and this population uses on-site sanitation systems for human waste management. This has had impact on groundwater aquifers through microbial pollution, rendering otherwise chemically suitable water unsuitable on this account without treatment. Construction of the Dongo-Kundu By-Pass to link Mombasa with the south coast will open the Kwale County to rapid urbanization, replicating the water pollution problem experienced in the Mombasa County, particularly in the locations found along its coastal belt. In this study technical measures, zoning and declaration of areas for conservation of groundwater aquifers have been proposed to forestall the problem in the newly to urbanize area. Key words: Ease of access, on-site sanitation, groundwater pollution, water borne diseases, effects on public healt

Environmental Implications of the Proposed Materials Handling and Ship-Loading Facility for the Export of Titanium at the Port of Mombasa, Kenya

A proposal has been made by Tiomin, Kenya to construct a materials handling and ship loading facility at Likoni in the vicinity of the port of Mombasa, Kenya. The proposed ship-loading site is a “brown-fields site”, which has been exposed to industrial and shipping activities for many years. Mangroves form the only significant marine habitat in the bay and show stress from previous oil spills. This study evaluates if implementation of the project, which includes construction of a warehouse and a jetty, could significantly compound the pollution problem. To achieve this, the project document, describing the construction and operational activities was obtained and a specialist study to describe the physical and biological environment, the currents dynamics for the area all year round were undertaken to predict the risk of accidents related to bad weather, indicating how the currents may transport oil (in the case of oil spill) to affect the mangrove habitat. The methods used to accomplish this study included a desk-top study for published information on the area, field visits to observe and describe the environment, and use made of the method for impact identification and evaluation developed by the Coastal and Environment Services, South Africa. Potential impacts revealed by the study included changes to water quality arising from sediment loading into the marine environment due to excavation activities, changes to benthic environment due to propeller wash during manoeuvring/docking, tank cleaning etc, effects on the water column from spillage the export minerals, potential impacts from invasive species from ballast water discharges, etc. Construction impacts were evaluated to be severe but of short-term duration. Such impacts are judged to be insignificant. On the other hand, operation impacts will be routine and may have moderate to significant impacts, if mitigation measures are not put in place and sustained. On mitigation, most of these impacts reduce to low impact and significance. However, the discharge of ballast water should not be allowed. Having established that most impacts were insignificant, it was concluded that implementation of the project would not significantly compound the existing environment condition in the harbour, and as such, implementation of the project was recommended