Abdullahi Ibrahim’s dream of setting up a fruit juice business has so far been thwarted by water scarcity in Kenya’s biggest slum, Kibera.
However, the 19-year-old is confident a reliable water supply — which he sees as a basic need — will be available one day, enabling him to open up shop.
His ambition could get a boost as soon as next month, when a sewage treatment plant under construction in the east of the slum, home to about one-quarter of a million people in southwest Nairobi, is due to start operating.
The plant is being built by Asticom K Ltd, a Kenyan company that specializes in waste recycling, with US$12.7 million in funding from the multi-donor Climate Technology Initiative.
Asticom CEO Leah Tsuma said the plant would be the first in Africa to both purify sewage into clean water and convert solid waste into power.
“Accessing water and electricity is a big problem for us slum dwellers,” Ibrahim said. “I am looking to this recycling plant for things to change.”
In the absence of a water treatment system, groups of traders have taken over Kibera’s water supply.
Even for those still connected to the city council water network such as Robert Akim, a clerk at the Kibera Constituency Office, unexpected rationing leaves them at the mercy of the private suppliers.
“The whole slum is messy, because the cartels do not do their job as expected,” Akim said. “They control the supply of water, energy and waste management.”
The new plant, whose construction began in November last year on a 2 hectare plot of land donated by a local housing cooperative, could help bust their monopoly.
Two drainage canals running through the slum are to channel wastewater to the plant, while young people are to be awarded contracts to supply solid waste, project leader Tsuma said.
The plant’s planned power capacity is 8 megawatts of electricity, which is to be generated using biogas from solid waste, Tsuma said, adding that it also aims to produce 6,000 tonnes of methane per year that is to be sold for cooking.
Treated water is to be provided free to Kibera residents, Tsuma added.
The plant’s purification technology uses anaerobic digestion, where raw sewage is collected in a big tank and then filtered and taken through a chemical process to remove harmful bacteria, she said.
The solid waste in the sewage water will be used to make biogas, while the liquid part is purified, Tsuma said.
“Even the bad smell is removed, and so clean drinking water is generated,” she added.
Stephen Ogolla, laundry manager at the Human Needs Project, a community enterprise in central Kibera, said the plant would help create work for thousands of youth.
The biggest opportunity would be for them to invest in their own businesses, as water would be provided free to Kibera’s inhabitants, while those living within a 1km radius of the plant would also benefit from free electricity.
For example, a laundry consumes lots of water and electricity, Ogolla said, adding that his own, serving locals, uses up to 10,000 liters of water per day.
“The plant can help close the water shortage gap in Kibera,” he said.
Ray of Hope for Waste Management within Communities, a self-help group working in Kenya’s slums, said that about 75,000 tonnes of waste are generated in Kibera every year, the equivalent of about 205 tonnes per day.
Group treasurer Steve Ochieng said access to energy would enable young people to start businesses such as beauty salons, welding shops and even cybercafes.
“Kibera is a big area, with many different kinds of opportunities,” he said.
However, the project has sparked some health concerns.
Pastor Mathew Kalulu, chairman of the Kibera Udongo Housing Cooperative Society, said his organization had heard fears that transportation of waste to the plant could lead to littering of nearby roads.
And convincing people that water purified from the sewage canals is safe to drink could prove difficult, as “it is really filthy at the source,” he said.
“People are also concerned about emissions that may be produced by the chemical processes in the factory,” Kalulu added.
Nairobi County environmental officer John Paul Malawi said the waste recycling project would be guided by law, including regulations covering any by-products that might be toxic.
“I want Kibera people to know that, as the protector of the environment, we are keenly following the project so that it does not have any adverse effects,” Malawi said.
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