Njoro River Users and Stakeholders Association (NRUSA), a local environmental lobby group plans to introduce fish in the river to test its rehabilitation capacity.
This was announced on Tuesday by the group’s secretary general Joseph Kuria, when he talked to this writer in an interview at the group’s offices at Bondeni estate in Njoro town.
According to Kuria, there is a need for stakeholders to taste the rehabilitation efforts capacity of the river that was threatened with extinction some twenty years ago by introducing aquatic life in the river.
He noted that Njoro River that plays an important role in the Lake Nakuru watershed basin thrived with aquatic life some fifty years ago, but endless environmental damage activities contributed to the extinction of most aquatic life in the river.
“We have enough evidence that there was a lot of life in Njoro River in the pre-independence years when the surrounding environment was not yet exploited by human settlements activities like farming and deforestation,” said Kinyua.
“It is important that we as stakeholders who have tirelessly fought for its rehabilitation taste its rejuvenated capacity. This will give us inspiration,” added Kuria.
The environmentalist said that his group was working with the local Egerton University Department of Animal Sciences and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Institute (KARLI) on Njoro River Aquatic Life Rehabilitation Programme that will include introducing fish species in the river to taste their survival and breeding capacity.