Kenya's Athi River and Air Pollution: What Is the Truth?

Athi River, located about 28 kilometers southeast of Kenya's capital Nairobi, is a riverine town straddling the legendary River Athi.

As of 2019, over 1.5 million people held day jobs in Nairobi but lived elsewhere. A good number of them commute from Athi River. And why wouldn’t they? Athi River has a unique staycation appeal with its picturesque Lukenya Hills. It is a welcome escape from Nairobi’s urban chaos.

Evidence of recent development is in every direction. The Nairobi-Mombasa highway has been expanded into a dual carriageway. The township also has commuter train services to-and-from Nairobi.

Other features include tarmacked roads that allow public service vehicles to navigate. And perhaps most importantly, a booming real estate market that has spawned thousands of attractively affordable middle-class apartments.

Flu, running nose, watery eyes, wheezing and a cough

And so, in 2017, Charity and her husband could not resist the offer—in one of the dailies—to own a three-bedroom apartment in Athi River at the cost of Sh2.9 million.

“It was a deal: the kind that wouldn’t make you think twice. Typically, similar apartments went for Sh6.5 million at the cheapest,” she says.

Charity, her husband, and their son (then an only child) moved into their house in Great Wall Gardens 1, off Shanghai Road, in Athi River, in October 2020.

She says: “The first thing we took note of was the sun—it rises early and makes the place hot.”

The family would be blessed with two more babies: a girl and a boy. All was well until January, 2024. The girl—then three years old—developed respiratory complications that warranted a visit to the hospital.

“It started off as a flu, running nose, watery eyes, wheezing and a cough. Then she became feverish and was struggling to breath. So, we took her to Gertrude's Children's Hospital, Kitengela Branch [about 6 kilometers away]."

“She was treated as an outpatient and we went home with prescription drugs. A week or so later she hadn’t gotten well. She started deteriorating. We went back to the hospital and we were given more medications. A few days passed but still, she was not getting better," recalls Charity.

“A week went by. At some point she seemed to be getting better. She relapsed back into sickness… again. I decided to consult friends and requested to be referred to a [good] pediatrician.”

Eventually, she got a contact and called the number. The paediatrician, whom we can’t name for legal reasons, diagnosed the girl with broncho-pneumonia.

According to the doctor the girl needed admission for specialized care. The girl would be admitted at AAR Hospital off Kiambu road, where she was treated then discharged two days later—with more prescription drugs.

“She cleared the dosage and we went back for review where she was given a clean bill of health. Two days went by. On the third day, same story: flu, running nose, cough and struggling to breath,” Charity says.

At that moment, the mother was emotionally exhausted, psychologically adrift and physically tired.

“For the first time I started questioning if perhaps the environment had something to do with it: If Athi River, indeed, is too polluted for habitation.”

Charity went back to the hospital in Kitengela; which referred the case for admission at its mother facility: Gertrude's Children's Hospital in Muthaiga, Nairobi.

“Tests showed that she had pneumonia. About 70% of her lungs were filled up with mucus,” Charity says.

The little girl was scheduled for manual evacuation of the lungs twice every day. She was also put on top range antibiotics. She was in hospital from March 8, 2024 to March 18, 2024—a week and half.

When we met Charity (on March 20, 2024) she was back at the same hospital with her youngest baby; just a few months old, who had similar symptoms to his sister.

“As soon as we realized he was struggling to breath we did not want to wait any longer: we rushed him for admission. Once bitten twice shy.”

Before January Charity wouldn’t have been so suspicious of Athi River’s air but the events since have shaken her to the core.

Apart from the sun, one of the things that Charity would quickly learn about her new home area was a regular attack by a putrid smell that would take the atmosphere hostage.

“The smell often came alive at night. The very first time I smelled it I thought it was something in the house, like a leaky gas cylinder. I went out of the house to check. I realized the smell was everywhere.”

Neighbors told Charity about a long-standing battle between Great Wall Gardens (GWG) and a liquor manufacturing company next door—London Distillers Kenya (LDK)—which the residents blamed for the smell: accusing it of discharging toxic effluents that left the air rancid.

"Pollution in the air causes inflammations in the respiratory system, which are like wounds. These make the affected area susceptible to infections," says Dr. Warurua Mugo, one of the pediatricians who handled Charity’s daughter. A pulmonologist, Mugo has regular clinic days with Gertrude’s Hospital.

“Therefore children, and adults too, who live in an environment with high air pollution have higher risk of developing respiratory infections such as pneumonia. But, the process of sickness developing is complex and is affected by many factors. That one gets sick to the point of needing hospitalization means there are sufficient aggravators to warrant clinical intervention," he explains. 

“What we have taken note of is that people living in an area with air pollution have a higher chance of getting sick with respiratory illnesses. They also do get sick more frequently compared to those who live free of the pollution.”

Dr Mugo told The Standard that he too has taken note of many patient referrals that land at his desk from Athi River area and its environs.

A few kilometers from Great Wall Gardens, in Sabaki area, Jennifer Mbuvi lives in a house she moved into in 2012.

“Soon after moving something strange happened: I started running out of air frequently. It felt like the air was heavier than usual,” she says.

Initially she brushed it aside, assuring herself that her body would acclimatize. In 2014, she says, she couldn’t ignore the problem anymore.

“It got really bad: I frequently suffered blocked nose, coughs, and non-stop sneezing. I also suffered an incessant runny nose. I went to see a specialist. From their assessment they said I was allergic to something. Around the same time my eyes were also acting up: I was found to have pterygiums, fleshy overgrowths of the conjunctiva of the eye, which they operated on and removed. As for the nose and trachea allergies nothing could be done. I was put on anti-allergy medicines [to be taken indefinitely] to survive,” she says.

To date, Jennifer is on inhalers and drugs that mitigate the symptoms of asthma. Sometimes the drugs fail and she has to get an injection (known as Diprofos) that works better and faster.

Jennifer believes "without a shadow of a doubt" that the challenges she is experiencing are linked to air pollution in Athi River.

A study titled ‘Cement Dust Spread as Influenced by Wind and Its Impacts on Settlement Patterns and the Biophysical Environment’, published in 2022 in the East African Journal of Environment and Natural Resources, analyzed data from an unnamed 250-bed capacity hospital in Athi River and concluded that the most common dust pollution illnesses are skin infections, eye infections and other respiratory complications.

Air quality data

The National Environment Management Agency (NEMA) is the custodian of Kenya's environment.

“We do have a mobile air quality laboratory which we use to conduct checks on hot spots,” Selelah Okoth, Head of Air Quality at NEMA says.

But that’s as good as it gets. According to Okoth, “To get reliable data on air quality you have to monitor every day for at least one year—covering all seasons within the 12 months.”

NEMA has not collected such data, yet, the Environmental Management and Coordination Act (EMCA), gives it full authority to monitor and control air pollution.

Regardless, how would the regulator protect citizens from excess pollution if they can’t sufficiently measure it?

Catherine Mutanu, the CEC in charge of Water, Irrigation, Sanitation, Environment and Climate Change in Machakos County Government, whose role it is to monitor pollution in real time and hold polluters accountable, says her department, like NEMA, does not have the tools to proactively conduct tests in real time.

“We depend on members of the public who let us know of any pollution, after which we usually take action,” she says.

Luckily for us, a University of Nairobi Environmental Chemistry student studying for a Master’s degree collected data in 2015, in Athi River—albeit for two months.

“I used wet chemistry, capturing the air using chemicals, then analyzing them in the lab,” says Jael Birgen, who now teaches at Lukenya University.

Birgen captured and measured pollution in four spots: three next to industrial complexes and one inside a residential area.

According to Birgen, her own analysis of the results led her to conclude that Athi River’s air quality is “Very Poor.” She measured levels of sulphur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), carbon dioxide (CO₂) and Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM).

In many instances, the industrial sites exhibited high concentrations of pollutants measured against World Health Organization (WHO) limits. The residential area, at least on dry days, had levels way above WHO guidelines.

More recent data pair hand-in-glove with Birgen’s findings.

For over ten years, Code for Africa, a network of civic technology and data journalism labs, has had air quality sensors in Sabaki area of Athi River.

The sensors capture and relay data every day: analyzing the average concentrations of particulate matter (PM) with different diameters.

Specifically, they capture data on PM2.5, PM1 and PM10—the suffix denoting the maximum diameter of the particles in microns.

According to the WHO, safe levels of PM2.5 is an average exposure of 15 micrograms (or less) per cubic meter of air per day. In December 2023 – as per data from the sensor, 23 out of 31 days had average PM2.5 pollution levels above 15. It was the same case in January 2024. And in March 2023, 18 out of 29 days experienced pollution.

The most dangerous to human health

Dr. James Mwitari is Director and Principle Investigator at Air Pollution Centre of Excellence, domiciled at Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Mwitari says of all particulate matter, PM2.5 is the one that should worry residents of an area the most.

“This type of suspended particulate matter is the most dangerous to human health. PM2.5 is very fine and can be absorbed directly into the bloodstream, where the particles can move to major organs such as kidneys, heart and pancreas, lodge there, and cause illnesses such as neurological problems, heart conditions, diabetes, impaired lung function, cancer and so on,” he says.

Victor Nthusi is a researcher with Health Effects Institute, a US-based NGO that studies health effects of air pollution world over.

He says: “We categorize effects of air pollution into short-term effects and long-term effects. The short-term effects are reactions [to the pollution] that occur within days, weeks and months. They include things like aggravated asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis and upper respiratory tract infections. Long-term effects are illnesses that develop over many years of one living in the same polluted environment. These challenges develop over long period of time. They don’t kill you immediately: but they incredibly reduce life expectancy. They include illnesses like lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),” Nthusi says.

The WHO has a lower PM2.5 measure, measured as annual average, to protect humans from the long-term effects of pollution: 5 micrograms (or less) per cubic meter of air per year.

Dr. Andrew Owuor, a pulmonologist at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), is not shocked about Charity’s story nor Jennifer’s.

“That’s how pollution affects the respiratory system. To be sure, actual disease is caused by pathogens such as viruses and bacteria. What the pollution does is that it causes inflammation, which then expose the respiratory tract to the pathogens,” he says.

The Standard obtained the most recent health records data which shows that in 2023, 27.4% of diseases responded to at Athi River level Four hospital were for respiratory tract illnesses, compared to 25.6% nationally—a slight but significant difference.
 

Over 400 industries

Athiriver residents are likely to continue being exposed to air pollution. The town has mixed land use that has seen some industries right next door to residential areas.

A trusted source told this reporter that Athi River is home to at least 400 industries and factories; excluding businesses located within Athi River's Export Processing Zone (EPZ).

We also established that the township has 40 heavy-manufacturing industries: eight of them manufacture cement.

Nathaniel Nganga is the County Executive Committee member in charge of Lands, Housing, Urban Development and Energy in the county government.

He says: “Athi River was established as an industrial town. As more industries set up it created a huge demand for a wide-ranging labor force which in turn created demand for housing.”

Nganga says Machakos County Council, and later (from 1997) Mavoko Town Council, failed to draw a physical planning map for the area.

The lack of a map created a void: effectively unleashing a laissez-faire residential development.

“The government failed the people of Mavoko. To date, there are areas within Athi River town that are yet to be surveyed,” Nganga says.

Following countless petitions—and demonstrations by residents—the National Assembly, through the Departmental Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, took the matter over and conducted its own investigations.

In its report, the committee noted that LDK began operations in Athi River in 1986 and that the land they occupied was within the industrial zone.

The committee placed the blame on NEMA for permitting EPL to develop a residential property next to LDK knowing the potential conflict of such a decision.

This remains the story of Athi River today: nearly every residential estate finds itself within a kilometer [or less] of a plant with chimneys spewing some type of pollutant into the air.

Kitheka Makanga has been living in Athi River for 40 years courtesy of his career as a man of the cloth for Victory Faith Ministry, an international evangelical church.

“In my assessment the situation is bad and it warrants immediate action. This pollution is slowly incubating diseases that will be felt for many years to come,” he says.

In 2020 Makanga spent a month in hospital being treated for severe non-Covid-related pneumonia. He lives in the backyard of EPZ, from where he says a lot of pollution comes.

“There is a company inside there that burns stuff and lets the smoke billow into the sky. When they turn on their chimneys this place reeks: personally I suffer very bad headaches,” he says.

Indeed, this journalist accessed the EPZ and witnessed the chimneys letting off smoke into the sky.

At the entrance to the burning place was the name "Envirosafe Limited".

We reached out to them. A man who introduced himself as Edwin Owino called us back and defended the company, saying: “We have installed scrubbing units that sieve the smoke from our incinerators and remove pollutants before it is released. We have fully complied with NEMA Standards.”

Owino confirmed that Envirosafe burns hazardous waste such as medical waste, “like expired drugs.”

One of Makanga’s neighbors [let’s call her Joan] is a nurse at a public hospital. She narrated to The Standard how she battled an acute version of pneumonia known as lobar pneumonia.

“I was coughing blood. It is a miracle I am alive today,” Joan, who has lived in Athi River for 13 years now, said. “I have been asking to be transferred to another place so that I can move away from this pollution but I am yet to be successful.”

Joan’s house is sandwiched between a cement factory (which she says leaves everything in her house caked in dust) and a battery manufacturer (from whose direction she usually picks up pungent smells).

“At night (and sometimes during the day) they open their chimneys and let out all the smoke and toxic waste. It makes the air so thick we can barely catch decent sleep,” she says.

Joan and three other women we interviewed did not want to be identified. They were worried that the polluting industries are too powerful and their lives could be in danger.

Technological solutions

On March 21, 2024 residents of Galana Court, in Sabaki, wrote to NEMA, asking the agency to investigate Vibrama Entreprises, a factory they accused of polluting the air with black smoke and rendering the air unbreathable.

Pictures and videos in our possession lend credence to the residents’ claim. NEMA responded, promising to send its officers to survey the factory.

Right after NEMA’s visit, one of the leaders (who did not want to be named) representing the residents received a text from someone who identified themselves as Vincent [from Vibrama].

"…the claims [on Vibrama polluting the air] are true. I am requesting for five days to solve the problem…" it read.

Beyond taking full responsibility, the text was conciliatory—at least as per the resident’s interpretation.

We reached out to Vibrama and they said they had improved on their handling of smoke.

Indeed, another resident—who had been dispatched by his neighbors—confirmed the presence of new anti-pollution technology.

But before they could celebrate they noticed that two other enterprises within a kilometer were also spewing dark smoke into the air around them.

“Residents complaining of air pollution in Athi River is not something new,” says Makanga. “The complaints show you that we have a big problem.”

Moving either humans or the industries, Nganga contends, would involve a lot of resources that perhaps the government does not have.

He says: “There is technology today that can be used to arrest pollution before waste is released into the environment. If all factories and industries can install such technologies, we would greatly improve the quality of air in Athi River.”

Jennifer agrees with Nganga, saying: “Many of us have built homes and bought property here—with the government’s knowledge. We can’t just up and leave. It is for regulatory bodies to force the industries to install state-of-the-art technologies that will arrest the pollution."

Having been in office for just 7 months, Nganga says his office is currently working on the County Spatial Plan aimed at designating land use for every space. “It should be ready in a few months,” he says.

In the meantime, his office is not signing any new permits that are seeking to set up industries in Athi River. “We are encouraging new investors to move farther from Athi River and away from residential areas,” he says.

The Parliamentary report on LDK made several recommendations. Key among them: instructing the liquor maker to close operations for six months, and acquire technology that would arrest air pollution.

The report accused NEMA officers of ‘suspicious’ games: allowing LDK to continue operations against a court order for the plant to be closed. "There is need to scrutinize the relationship between NEMA and LDK," the report says.

The report also questions why NEMA remains reactive to the pollution menace and not proactive: it should make sure companies follow the law in their waste disposal activities instead of first waiting for pollution to occur. 

The committee asked that the county government of Machakos find out if due process during Change-of-Use for the plot of land occupied by LDK and EPL were followed, and instructed that the people who oversaw the processes be prosecuted if found to have erred.

Construction of Great Wall Gardens began in 2015 when the current Minister of Tourism, Alfred Mutua, was the governor of Machakos.

The last mayor of Mavoko (before 2013 elections; held under a new constitution that gave birth to counties) was Patrick Makau. He is now a member of Parliament representing Mavoko Constituency. We called and texted him without success.

EPL continues to build affordable off-plan houses under the name Great Wall Gardens, in adjacent lands, and is now on GWG 6, which, at 12 stories high, is bound to host thousands of human beings.

LDK, through their lawyers Tiego & Co. Advocates, declined our request for interview citing that the issues we raised are still subject to active litigation before the High Court.

At the time of going to press senior management of NEMA and EPL had yet to respond to our request for interviews weeks after we made formal contact.

KCB Bank also did not respond to us on the parties that bought the land before ownership changed to EPL.

How air pollution affects fauna, flora and global warming

In April, the African Group of Negotiators Experts Support (AGNES), convened in Nairobi to align the continent’s priorities with global climate objectives, ahead of the 60th sessions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Subsidiary Body (SB60) to be held in Bonn, Germany, this June.

“The urgency to address global warming has never been more palpable. Let us seize this moment to make tangible difference in the fight against climate change,” said Dr George Wamukoya, AGNES’ Team Lead.

The meeting saw discussions on water security, health, agriculture, biodiversity, nature-based-solutions and adaptation.

Desta Lakew, the Global Partnerships for Africa Lead at AMREF Health Africa, was among delegates in attendance. He said: “The well-being of human beings and that of the planet go hand in hand. Let’s acknowledge the urgent nexus between climate change and health.”

Indeed, Dr Victor Toroitich, a veterinarian with Laikipia County, says pollution affects animals just as it does humans. “The animals too suffer conditions such as pneumonia.”

In Athi River air pollution is caused by industrial activities, vehicular movement, toxic effluents, quarrying and excavation, crushing mills, incineration and biomass burning. As such, effects of the pollution cascade in many directions.

“Sulphur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) react with water (rain) to form weak sulfuric and nitric acids, respectively. Acid rain char vegetation. NO₂ will also react in the atmosphere to form ground-level ozone, a greenhouse gas. Black carbon, or soot, are black bodies that absorb a lot of heat thus contributing to global warming. Particulate matter – dust – is a short-lived climate pollutant, which stays in the air for a maximum of two weeks, and in that period also traps heat."

“The use of fossil fuels also leads to emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂),” says Dr. George Mwaniki, an atmospheric scientist.

Mwaniki, who doubles up as the Head of Air Quality (in Africa) for World Resources Institute (WRI), explains that some pollutants contain certain toxic chemicals like dioxins and furans, which eventually settle onto vegetation, and are ingested by plants.

“When grazing animals eat them they accumulate the toxins over time. If the animal becomes meat, the toxins are transferred to humans,” he says.

In Athi River, grazing livestock is commonplace, and, the town is home to the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC), Kenya’s premier slaughterhouse.

Dr. Martin Muchangi, the Director of Population Health and Environment at AMREF, criticizes negligence in the implementation of urban planning policies.

“We need to invest in urban planning to make our cities livable,” he says.

If proper urban planning is done and adhered to, the other big move in the war against air pollution, he says, would be to transition from the use of fossil fuels.