ISSUE 083, May 16-31, 2013
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Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth
May 16-30, 2013
ISSUE 083
A bimonthly newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of African Woman and Child Feature Service
County challenges
Nairobi County residents feeding on sewer vegetables
Cheap is proving to be expensive and life threatening as farmers rake millions By HENRY OWINO Majority of inhabitants in Nairobi depends on the food grown outside the city mainly from Nakuru, Nyeri and Kiambu Counties. However, some city residents have become farmers either by design or default depending on the residential area one resides in and one’s lifestyle. An investigation carried out by Reject, revealed that food crops, especially root-crops and vegetables are being grown in residential areas with the farmers using sewer water. The crops might look healthier and fresh but they have long term negative health hazards to those who use it. Indeed, a good number of the city’s residents ignorantly feed on these food crops grown in the sewers despite experts warning that they could have adverse effects on them. Nairobi Dam is one of the areas where the urban farmers have encroached to grow various roots crops and other vegetables using sewer water. The dam used to be a water reservoir for domestic and emergency water supply for the then city’s rapid growing population in the early 1970s.
The dam was also used as a centre for recreational activities such as sport fishing and sailing as well as a picnic site. However, this is no longer the case today. The dam has become a centre for collection of domestic, industrial and solid discharges dumped into the reservoir since early 1990s.
Reveal
A visit to the dam reveals that yams are common crops and occupy tens of acres on the dam land. Other crops include bananas, sukuma wiki (kales), cabbage, sugar cane, Napier grass, tomatoes and onions. These crops find ready market and are consumed in the neighbourhood, starting with residents of the sprawling Kibera slum itself, Woodley, Highrise, Jamhuri, Lang’ata, Otiende, Kenyatta market and other areas in the city. According to an expert, the dam could contain heavy toxic metals such as lead, zinc, iron, copper, cadmium, chromium and aluminium due to accumulation of household and industrial waste in the dam. These heavy metals contaminate the soil, as a result, food crops grown in the dam use it for its photosynthe-
sis and transpiration activities. A water engineer Vivian Nabuso says one of the ways heavy metals enter our bodies is through the food we eat. She cautions that most people who feed on these foods could suffer from organ failure, cancer, eye problems and other reproductive health problems. “Concentration of heavy metal toxins have the ability to impair cells, tissues and body systems responsible for our behaviour, mental health, and proper physiological functioning,” Nabuso cautions. She explains that though these metals are essential to human life, high intake is harmful. For example high intake of copper causes anaemia, liver and kidney damage. High intake of mercury causes damage to the brain and the central nervous system while chromium long term exposure can cause kidney and liver damage, and to circulatory and nerve tissues as well. Despite the health concerns, farming activities continue unabated in Nairobi dam. James Ouma owns two acres of land under yams. He has farmed and sold yams for the last five years. Continued on page 4
From top: Benjamin Njoroge with a colleague harvesting arrow roots at Nairobi Dam. Njoroge at his arrowroot farm. One of the plantation farms. Pictures: Henry Owino.
Continued on page 6
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