Story by Daily Nation
‘As good as dead.’ This is how Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala recently described Lake Nakuru National Park. He called for the formation of a team to address land encroachment at Lake Nakuru, Naivasha and Elementaita, and asked scientists from the Kenya Wildlife Service to address the loss of biodiversity and the flight of flamingos from Lake Nakuru in a bid to restore it to its former glory.
HealthyNation toured the lakes and came face to face with the human activities that are threatening to dry up the famous Rift Valley lakes.
POLLUTION
In October 2017, divers from the Kenya Navy and other organisations worked for days to retrieve the bodies of four people who were in a helicopter that crashed in Lake Nakuru
Rescuers retrieved three bodies, but for the last one, resigned loved ones threw flowers in honour of the victim, and to date, the body has never been retrieved. Rescuers disclosed that retrieving the bodies had been difficult because the lake was filled with raw sewage and silt.
Two years later, the pollution continues unabated as effluent from the settlements that inch ever closer spill into the lake.
Just 10 years ago, the riparian zone around the lake was intact, and the closest human settlements – Rhonda, Langa Langa, Racecourse, Kivumbini and Madaraka – were kilometres away.
But gradually, human settlement has moved closer and closer, bringing with it pollution.
Besides effluent from residential areas, water treatment plants located around the lake have been blamed for draining untreated waste into the lake.
“Lake Nakuru is a protected wetland and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but the pollution from untreated sewage, chemicals and industrial waste is taking away its glory.
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