There is bad smell that has engulfed Athi River town and its neighborhoods. The smell comes and goes but it never goes for good. Year in, year out, it is a menace that the residents of Athi River town have to deal with. This air pollution is posing great health risks to residents of Athi River town. It chokes your throat and makes your stomach bloated. The funny thing is that many do not know, for sure, where this horrible smell is coming from.

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Here is what I found out from my personal investigations:

1. Domestic effluent

My tour through the town and the various estates surrounding the town showed that there are many garbage collection points. Site estate has more than two dumping sites.Njugu-ini estate that more than three dumping sites.KMC estate has three dumping sites, Sofia estate has more than three dumping sites, Athi ya Chini estate has more than four dumping sites, Makadara estate residents dump their wastes inside the drainage tunnel, Slota estate has more than two dumping sites. Some residents of Slota estate also dump their waste inside the drainage tunnel.Embakasi estate has more than two dumping sites. While the county government of Machakos is trying hard to collect these waste for proper disposal, sometimes the wastes remain uncollected for a long time causing bad small in the town.

2. Industrial effluent

Athi River town is an industrial town. It boasts of more than five cement factories. It also houses the biggest meat and textile processing companies in Kenya; Kenya meat commission (KMC) and Export Processing Zones (EPZ) respectively. My investigation took me all the way to Kinanie, a fast sprawling urban center. Residents of Kinanie have also endured this bad smell for many years and they attribute its cause to effluents from EPZ Company. I talked to a teacher Mathematics/Business teacher at Sunrise school in Kinanie, Mr.Geofrey Nafula, and this is what he said.

“About the bad smell, we have gotten used to it.When I first came here it used to disturb me a lot. The smell sips through the class and it makes learning uncomfortable. There is a sewage pipe passing through the town. It is rumored that the pipe transports wastes from EPZ Company and whenever there are leakages, it produces that horrible smell.”

Back in Athi River town, I questioned a few individuals and they attributed the source of the bad smell to effluents from Slota house and other numerous industries in Athi River town. Recently, residents of Athi River stormed London Distillers Company to complain of environmental pollution. Maybe it is time they all get to the bottom of this air pollution as well.

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