This archive report was first published on 28 September 2019.
Published on September 28, 2019, the Water Resources Authority (WRA) is yet to lift a precautionary notice on the safety of the water at Kiboko Springs and its environs in Makueni County.
Despite tests by the authority as well as other institutions finding no traces of oil, the notice remains in place. The authority had initially found oil in samples taken from the site following a leak on the Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline in March.
However, in subsequent tests, the water was found to be not contaminated. At a September 20 meeting of the task force formed to look into the oil spill, WRA reported that samples taken in the course of August and September did not contain oil and grease.
According to the Minute of the meeting signed by the task force chairman Mohammed Maalim, the final result received from Bureau Veritas Limited, University of Nairobi, and Kenya Bureau of Standards have all confirmed that the test for oil and grease was negative.
With the notice still in place, KPC will have to continue providing residents with clean water. Even when the notice is lifted, the pipeline operation will continue being on-site to complete a clean-up of areas affected by the spill.
Maalim noted that there has to be an exit strategy, and KPC cannot just leave the site. However, he declined to discuss the details of the report that has been prepared on the spill.
Residents of Kiboko are going to court seeking compensation for the damage caused by the spill. Through the Kiboko Water Resource Users Association, the residents have filed a suit in court where KPC, WRA, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, and the Nation Environmental Management Authority (Nema) are named as respondents.
