New law to guard water catchment areas

By James Ratemo

Time is up for destroyers of water catchment areas.

Through an amendment in the Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act 1999, the Minister for Environment now has powers to restrict destruction of wetlands, forests, lakes and rivers.

If invoked, this would be a big boost to environment conservation.

It is part of Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendment) Act 2009, which President Kibaki assented to on Thursday. Under this Act (Number eight of 1999), no person shall, without the prior written approval of the Director-General, given after an environmental assessment, erect, reconstruct, place, alter, extend, remove or demolish any structure in a river, lake or wetland.

"It will be illegal to excavate, drill, tunnel or disturb a river, lake or wetland, introduce animal in a river, lake or wetland," reads the law in part.

Also following the amendment, the minister may by notice in the Gazette, declare a lakeshore, wetland, coastal zone or riverbank to be a protected area. The minister may also, by notice in the Gazette, issue general and specific orders, regulations or standards for the management of riverbanks, lakeshores, wetlands or coastal zones.

The law aims at protecting water bodies from pollution.

The law deters anyone from depositing "any substance in a lake, river or wetland or in, on or under its bed, if that substance would have adverse environmental effects".

Further, it will be illegal and punishable to direct or block any river, lake or wetland from its natural and normal course or drain any lake, river or wetland.

Many rivers across the country, especially those originating from Mau Forest, Mount Kenya and the Aberdare ranges, are quickly drying up and dam levels receding.

Already Masinga Dam, which is a major power generation site, is closed due to low water levels.

In Nairobi and its environs, lack of a reliable water supply persists.