Water Resource Management Authority (WRMA) has appealed manufacturers discharging effluents into River Nyando to cut back on such pollution by embracing modern treatment technologies.
Warma appealed to the firms which include sugar millers, agro-chemical and food companies to ensure their discharge meets environmental standards to improve the quality of River Nyando that drains into Lake Victoria.
A partnership between MASHAVA, an Israeli water recycling firm and GIZ, a German development agency, WARMA challenged the firms to invest in replacing old technologies with new ones so as to lower pollution.
WRMA CEO Phillip Olum, who spoke at a workshop in Kisumu on Tuesday, said the status of the river was nearing a high risk for domestic use and called for speedy resolution that ropes in all stakeholders.
WRMA Deputy Technical Coordination Manager Margaret Abira said some of the companies were degrading the lake at a high rate.
“Some of the firms need total refurbishment to have their discharge meet environment safety standards,” she said.
Consultants from Israel offered to integrate expertise that lower pollution.
According to WRMA the poor designs of waste treatment and recycling plants was to responsible for the polluted waters.
She said participatory approaches that involve various shareholders was one of the ways to combat the situation.
Water Act of 2002 dictates levels of treatment manufacturers must meet before discharging industrial waste onto Rivers.
The Act also requires companies to seek permissions before emptying waste onto rivers. This way, their compliance is monitored.