Role of industries in sustaining water qualit

F.A.O. Otieno (7227473)

English

Loughborough University Institutional Repository

D   OPERATION, MAINTENANCE AND TECHNOLOGY: OTIENO14421st WEDC Conference Kampala, Uganda, 1995Role of industries in sustaining water qualityDr. F.A.O. Otieno, South AfricaNAIROBI THE CAPITAL of Kenya and a major industrialtown in the region has an estimated population of 2,000,000people. This population far outstrips the available facili-ties to the extent that a large percentage of the populaceremain without adequate and satisfactory services, e.g.water, sanitation, and garbage collection.There are several rivers draining through the city ofNairobi, the bigger ones include Ngong, Nairobi, Mathare,Ruaraka, Kasarani. All these rivers eventually drain intoNairobi river which in turn empties into the Athi river.Most people in rural areas of Kenya use untreatedwater from rivers and streams for drinking and otherdomestic activities. Where water treatment is provided inpiped water supplies, treatment failures are known tooccur frequently due to mechanical problems, lack ofchemicals and other reasons. It is therefore important thatpollution of streams and rivers is reduced to a minimum.From existing reports on the status of the Nairobi rivers(Nyikuri, 1994; Otieno 1991a, 1991b) it emerges that thereis a general awareness of the pollution problem, its levelsand trends. It is also evident that the existing legislation,while requiring some amendment and review is ad-equate but that there is not enough enforcement. Thesefindings also indicate that there is little commitment byindustrialists to play the role they should play in order toprotect and indeed improve the quality of the environ-ment.Sources of pollutionThere are several categories of pollution entering Nairobiriver. These include, but are not limited to:• Industrial effluent emanating from factories, godowns,business premises especially from the industrial area.There is no justification for this state of affairs asNairobi City Council (NCC) by laws allow  industrieswithin 200 feet of a sewer to connect to it. Even whenthis is not the case, industries can easily obtain permis-sion from NCC to install a form of treatment that willenhance environmental conditions.• Raw sewage from blocked, broken or overloadedsewers.• Sewage and other polluting agents from the informalsector such as slums, markets, jua kali premises.• Effluent from public and private sewage treatmentworks. This happens when sewage is not properlytreated as it passes through the treatment works.Industries could also indirectly pollute the rivers bySUSTAINABILITY OF WATER AND SANITATION SYSTEMSdischarging wastes that are not compatible with othersewage and thereby interfering or inhibiting the bio-logical processes responsible for sewage treatment.• Effluents from petrol stations and other garages.• Surface runoff.• Solid wastes/garbage dumped in rivers and theirsurrounding.Pollution profilesFrom the pollution profile of Nairobi river, it is evidentthat it becomes increasingly polluted from the point itenters the city. The pollution levels reach their peak as theriver passes through heavy industrial and or commercialareas and reduces again when the river goes through lesspolluted areas and recover quite rapidly once the riverleaves the city. (Note the improved dissolved oxygenlevels in Table 1). This is attributed mainly to self purifi-cation due to oxidation, especially where the gradient issteep or at falls, and is aided by the favourable tempera-tures and light conditions commonly experienced in Nai-robi.It is possible to tell by looking at the profiles at whatpoint a dose of pollutant has been injected into the riverand hence easier to establish the culprit. Unfortunately,the enforcement mechanism of the law is quite poor andso culprits get away with such acts. The ongoing NationalEnvironmental Action Plan (NEAP) process is aimed atTable 1. Oxygen levels along Nairobi RiverStationNyongera UpNyongera DownMuthuri RoadLoreto ConventChiromoKerichwaMuseumKijabe StreetRoundaboutRacecourse BShauri MoyoOuter Ring RoadKariobangi UpKariobangi DownMathareNjiruNairobi FallsAthi at Munyu14 FallsDistancedownstream(Kms)0.03.55.010.013.514.015.015.516.017.020.024.026.026.530.036.051.075.586.0Oxygen level(mg/1)2.607.006.406.606.766.607.407.242.601.900.271.152.603.200.160.303.365.806.80D   OPERATION, MAINTENANCE AND TECHNOLOGY: OTIENO145redressing this shortfall and one hopes that once this isimplemented, industrialists can see their role in prevent-ing further pollution of existing water resources in Nai-robi and in Kenya in general.Trend of pollutionData gathered over the years ( Otieno 1991a, 1991b; Officeof the President 1991) regarding the pollution of Nairobiriver indicates that the level of pollution has not changedmuch in the last ten years or so. This can be attributed to:• The expansion of the sewage works to a large portionof the city and which most industrialists not connectedshould take advantage of and connect.• The flushing effects of the rains on the rivers.• The favourable nature of the tropical climate whichallows for a significant amount of self purification.All the above notwithstanding, the rivers are still heav-ily polluted beyond acceptable levels for domestic, indus-trial and agricultural origin.The role of industries in water pollutioncontrolThe main culprits in the pollution of Nairobi river areindustries. Given the level of environmental awarenessand indeed the increase in the same, it is in the interest ofthese industries that they keep Nairobi river clean. How-ever, since the benefits to such industries would be indi-rect and long term, most of them do not see the need to beinvolved in such measures. For example, very few of theindustries surveyed were willing to pay to install pollu-tion abatement equipment despite the fact that many ofthem were not only aware that they were polluting buteven knew that there was technology available to dealwith this menace.When one looks at this scenario in depth, it becomesimperative that certain incentives, e.g. tax rebates pre-sumably by the government need to be put in place ifindustrialists are expected to spend money on pollutionabatement. This approach has been tried with success insome countries (Otieno, 1991b).The question of awareness on the part of the consumercould also force industrialists to start worrying  aboutpollution abatement. For example, if consumers rejectedproducts on grounds that they were environmentallyunfriendly, industrialists would be forced to act respon-sibly. Another way of enforcing environmental responsi-bility is for companies that do not protect the environ-ment be denied access to the international market ( it hasbeen argued that such companies are actually spendingless on production costs and are therefore enjoying anunfair advantage). A stringent approach to ensure thatthey do not continue to enjoy this benefit is to ensure thatthey play a positive role in environmental pollution con-trol.What about sustainability?It is not just enough to insist that companies inject re-sources into environmental pollution control. The entireprocess has to be sustainable. And so how do we builtsustainability in the pollution control of Nairobi river?There are certain rules for ensuring sustainability. Gold-smith (1992) suggests the following for ensuringsustainability:• Securing beneficial commitment to priorities, projectsand interests, in this case, the process of pollutioncontrol of Nairobi river.• Choosing an attainable organizational mission andallocating resources to these attainable goals.• Having a strategy for sustainability early in the life ofthe project, in this case, trying to implore on all playersthe need for keeping Nairobi river clean.• Building a network of alliances among the beneficiar-ies of the act, i.e. pollution control.• Differentiating perceived as against actual pay-offs.• Providing avenues for continuous training of bothindustrialists, enforcement officers and the public ingeneral.• Having a blend of both short and long term planninghorizons.ConclusionsGiven the increased environmental awareness and exist-ing technologies for pollution abatement, and the desireby consumers for products of a green nature (whoseproduction processes have positive regard for the envi-ronment), it would seem naive for industrialists to try andsave money today instead of putting it into pollutionabatement strategies. It is therefore suggested that thegovernment of the day in an effort to try to ensure amarket for the industries tomorrow, i.e. sustainability,they should provide certain incentives for industries tosee the benefits of investing in environmental protection.Any industrialists with forward planning would not bewaiting for the government to provide these incentivesbut should instead lead the way in environmental protec-tion.ReferencesGoldsmith, A.A. (1992)., Promoting the Sustainability ofDevelopment Institutions : A Framework for Strategy,World Development, Vol. 20 No. 3 pp 369-383.Ndwaru, W.T (1994)., A Report on Findings of the NairobiRivers : Pollution Survey and the Need for PollutionControl.Nyikuri, R.N (1994)., Reducing Pollution Along NairobiRiver, Final Year Civil Engineering Project, Depart-ment of Civil Engineering, University of Nairobi, Kenya.Office of the President (1991)., Permanent  PresidentialCommission on Soil Conservation and Afforestation : AReport on Pollution Problems in the Rivers PassingThrough Nairobi.D   OPERATION, MAINTENANCE AND TECHNOLOGY: OTIENO146Otieno, F.A.O (1990)., Poison in the River System - HowSafe are Our River Systems ? Proceedings of Environ-ment 2000, Nairobi, Kenya.Otieno, F.A.O. (1991a)., Assessment of Pollution Status ofNairobi River : An Overview. Proceedings of Seminaron Water Health and the Environment, pp 169-174,Nairobi, Kenya.Otieno, F.A.O. (1991b)., Chief Sources of Water Pollutionin Kenya, Journal of the Institute of Management, pg 42- 46, Vol. 10, No. 3.

Role of industries in sustaining water quality

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Role of industries in sustaining water quality

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