Njoro residents have sued a company over environmental pollution. [Photo: courtesy]
A section of residents from Michorui village in Njoro have sued a flower company over environmental pollution caused by chemical effluents.
In the case filed before the Environment and Lands court in Nakuru, the residents are seeking orders to compel Sonjami Spring Fields Limited which runs a flower farm next to the village to rehabilitate their land which they claim have been degraded by the chemical effluents released from the green houses.
According to the suit, three residents Ms Jane Wagathuitu Githinji, Isaac Kamau and Samson Gichuki claim the firm which is stationed uphill in the region has failed to contain and treat the waters within their farm.
The trio said the flower firm has been releasing the effluent down to the community residing along the slope causing harm.
According to court documents supporting their case, the residents state that sometimes in August 2014, a dam constructed by the company broke its banks allowing its waters to flow downhill which caused massive devastation with the loss of cattle, donkeys, homes, farm produce and destruction of property and roads.
They argue that the locals were compensated 'peanuts' following the loss.
“The plaintiffs seek the court’s protection of their property, health, well-being of their workers and that of their animals in stopping the firm from continuing with the acts of environmental degradation and nuisance to their property,” read part of the documents.
In the case, the National Environmental Management Authority and the county government have also been listed as respondents.
The residents have also sued the county government of Nakuru for allowing the firm to construct nine more hectares of greenhouses on top of the existing 36 hectares without considering the conditions set by the environmental authority.
According to the affidavit by Ms Wagathuitu, NEMA had granted the firm permission to construct the green houses on condition that they built a dam for harvesting the rainwater.
However, Water Resource Management Authority denied permission for construction of the dam at the point where they wanted as it was a wetland area.
“They went ahead to and built the 9 hectares of green houses and directed the water into the private land resulting to cumulative and massive flow of water down the gulley earlier created by the water from the dam,” read part of the affidavit.
The residents further seek orders to restrain the firm from releasing the effluents into their firms.