For one Njoroge Muchiri, the thought of owning a home in Mountain View estate in Naivasha was a dream he cherished for years.
This was finally achieved in the estate located on a top of a hill overlooking Lake Naivasha and the yawning Mt Longonot.
He would be woken up by the chirping of the birds while the clear view of the lake and the mountain was literally breathtaking.
Three years down the line, Njoroge is woken by a pungent smell while the breath-taking view has been replaced by smoke from the nearby Naivasha dumpsite.
For residents of Mountain View and Karai in Naivasha, the town’s dumpsite which is located within the two estates has turned out to be a source of diseases and torment for them.
Dreams of owners have been shattered by the spilling waste.
Already, some of the tenants have relocated from the estate and tens of others face the same predicament and poisonous waste continues to spill into their homes.
According to Njoroge, the choking smells, flowing waste and lack of support from the county government had left them a frustrated lot.
He said that the young and the old were the most affected after the waste spilled into their homes due to failure to manage the site.
“We are recording cases of chest infections daily due to the poisonous emissions from this dumpsite whose waste has found its way into our homes,” he said.
The emotional trader noted that they could not harvest rain water as their roofs were covered with the soot from the dumpsite making the rainwater poisonous.
“Our appeal is to have this dumpsite relocated to areas where there is no human settlement as it has caused us untold suffering,” he said.
Another resident Flora Wambui said that the situation was getting worse by the day as the amount of dumped waste continued to pile up.
She noted that when they moved into the estate, the dumpsite was kilometers away and well managed before things changed.
“The waste has been slowly spilling from the dumpsite and it has finally found its way into our homes leaving a trail of suffering and diseases,” she said.
Lakeview MCA Simon Wanyoike admitted that the dumpsite was a disgrace to area residents, noting that those responsible for managing it had failed.
“We have two schools near the dumpsite and some teachers are seeking transfers due to health complications while tens of minors are getting treatment for various diseases,” he said.
He said that a perimeter wall should be constructed to avoid the ongoing spillage which had to date claimed over 10 acres of private land and caused tens of diseases.
“The organizers of the World Rally Championship had to abandon their plans to use the dumping site due to its condition and its time the responsible department acted,” he said.
Speaking on phone, the County Chief Officer in charge of Environment Muriithi Kiogora said that efforts to procure land for a dumpsite had failed due to lack of appropriate site.
“The county has this financial year set aside Sh8m to fence the dumpsite and we are seeking partners so that we can start processing the organic waste,” he said.