The National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) has issued a stern warning to both large and small-scale traders in Migori County over violation of waste management procedures.
Following persistent public outcry over poor waste management and disposal of effluents into river Migori, NEMA launched an inspection and enforcement exercise in Migori town targeting various facilities that were non-compliant in safeguarding the environment.
The inspection team was dismayed after confirming a trend of disposal of effluents into river Migori which is the main source of domestic water that has exposed river water users to serious health hazard.
Several facilities were found violating the environmental regulations and their administrators were arrested. Institutions and facilities found perpetrating the vice included hospitals, hotels and petrol filling stations operating within Migori town.
Such institutions, among them Naas Hotel, located within the town center, lacked appropriate sewage treatment systems, according to Mr. Robert Orina, who led the inspection exercise.
While briefing the press soon after the raid, Orina noted that the hotel has poor waste treatment mechanism with a narrow pipe that often burst and releases waste onto the streets of Migori town.
“Naas Hotel does not manage its waste well and is polluting the streets of the town and it has now forced us to arrest the manager,” said the official.
He expressed challenges Nema faced saying most of the facilities do not have civic education on safeguarding the environment and few of these facilities do not take time to conduct environmental impact assessment.
He also highlighted the guidance they gave out to facilities for application of a compliance letter which appear to have been ignored.
“At Heritage hotel, our focus was on how they manage their waste and we discovered a leaking septic tank that was spilling open waste matters on the streets,” added Orina.
County NEMA Director Tom Togo emphasized the importance of taking care of the environment as a personal responsibility adding that the inspection exercise would be continuous and that they would not relent in their efforts to ensure a clean environment is maintained.
Moreover, he expressed dismay over an incident where the team encountered a vehicle being washed in the river which supplies water to various people for domestic services, announcing that the culprits were immediately apprehended.
NEMA is concerned with the bad environmental situation in Migori town which does not have a sewage system leaving the residents at the mercy of God, the director rued.
He warned of harsh punishment to those who would be found discharging toxic effluents into River Migori, the only main source of water in within the town and its suburb.
Togo challenged the County government to urgently come up with a project to help set up a working sewer line and treatment plant to safeguard the environment and protect the lives of the town dwellers.
By George Agimba
