Raw sewage flows from a burst pipe at Langas-Golden Gates in Eldoret City, Uasin Gishu County on April 16, 2025, posing a health risk to locals and those who use water downstream.
The simple act of taking a deep breath – something most of us do without thinking – has become a luxury for residents of Yamumbi in Eldoret.
As children play in what should be safe compounds, parents anxiously watch, knowing that just metres away, raw sewage bubbles from manholes, transforming their neighbourhood into a toxic landscape that has persisted for seven long years.
"For the last seven years, we have never enjoyed fresh air. Our environs have become a human waste disposal site spewing from the densely populated Langas slums and their environs," village elder Onesmas Githinji says, his voice heavy with resignation.
Beneath the daily hustle and bustle of Langas, a densely populated low-income residential area on the outskirts of Eldoret in Uasin Gishu County, lies a frustrated community suffering a health crisis that authorities have repeatedly failed to address.
As you approach the Yamumbi area near the Golden Gates junction on the lower side of this estate in Kapseret Constituency, the air thickens with the unmistakable stench of raw sewage.
Raw sewage overflows next to a compound at Langas-Golden Gates in Eldoret City, Uasin Gishu County on April 16, 2025, posing a health risk to locals and those who use water downstream.
Broken waste pipes feeding into the main sewer line that serves the larger Langas Estate and open trenches have become a norm, turning main paths, compounds, and children's playgrounds into toxic health hazards.
A daily nightmare
At the junction, Linet Nandwa goes about her household chores while a partly open manhole spills raw sewage just meters away.
For years, this manhole in her compound and two others nearby have burst open, releasing their contents into the surrounding area. The situation worsens during rainy seasons when her home and the entire neighbourhood flood with raw sewage.
A man leaps over a trench where raw sewage flows from a burst pipe at Langas-Golden Gates in Eldoret City, Uasin Gishu County on April 16, 2025, posing a health risk to locals and those who use water downstream.
"This has become our nightmare, and the sewage exposes us to a myriad of health risks. Not to mention the smell, which bothers everyone," she says, gesturing toward sewage containing human and solid waste spread throughout her entire compound.
Linet, mother to a toddler, must remain constantly vigilant to prevent her child from crawling into the pit full of sewage when she isn't watching. To reduce the overflow, she has dug a trench to redirect the sewage outside her compound into a nearby ditch where it meets with flowing rainwater.
Seven years of broken promises
According to Githinji, efforts to seek attention from the Eldoret Water and Sanitation Company (Eldowas) have been futile, leaving residents counting a trail of broken promises.
The community, through the village elder, has written complaint letters to various government agencies, including the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), the County Government of Uasin Gishu, the County Police Commander, and Eldowas, among others, to register their grievances.
"We are completely forgotten, and we know no dignity in matters of sanitation. We gasp human waste from other places that spill right into our homes because this is not even our sewer line," Githinji says.
He points out that residents in Yamumbi use pit latrines, not the sewer system that's causing their misery.
Beatrice Wanjiku, a resident of Njambini in Yamumbi Village, confirms this reality: "In Yamumbi we use pit latrines! We don't have any toilets pumping into the sewage line. This sewage comes from Langas."
She adds, "When it rains, water mixes with sewage and floods people's houses. We have to manually drain the overflow from houses. Even the roads overflow with contaminated water, and we experience foot problems after walking in it."
Children at risk
Lilian Awuor, another resident, worries most about the children who are exposed to rising health hazards as they walk in ditches and play in contaminated areas.
"As playful as they are, they pick up and put stuff in their mouths. They consume all this dirt. We are tired!" she says, a sentiment shared by many other locals, especially mothers.
The Nation team that visited the area experienced first-hand the effects of the toxic environment – returning to their Daima Towers office in Eldoret Town with red eyes and swollen stomachs from the noxious smell.
A preventable death
The situation turned tragic just two weeks ago when 35-year-old James Thiongo slipped into a sewage-filled ditch and died. His family believes he would have survived had the trench not been full of human waste.
"Were it not for this sewage, my brother wouldn't have died. We are being fed on human waste from Langas. We are fed up and we don't want more deaths because of this sewage," his brother Joseph Muiru said.
Ironically, the deceased had previously raised concerns in a 2019 Facebook post about the sewage line and the health risks it posed to his village, but his warnings went unheeded.
Contaminated water and food
At Kambi Wagema Junction, a spewing manhole that residents say has been leaking "for as long as they can remember" sits at a critical point where effluent from the sewer line meets with a clean water pipe.
During the visit, the clean water pipe was also leaking, with a faulty T-joint seeping from the sewer drainage – a clear sign of contamination.
"As clean water flows, sewage is flowing over it. This means that the clean water pipe will continuously seep the flowing sewage. Of course, there is contamination," observed Joseph Wagema, a resident at Kambi Wagema.
The crisis has extended to the food chain. The contaminated waste drainage has found its way into farms, forcing locals to dig trenches to redirect it. However, some farmers reportedly use it to grow vegetables that end up on the tables of unsuspecting residents of Eldoret City.
"People drink milk from those cows. And when it floods, the waste ends up on our farms, so definitely we eat contaminated food from our farms," Githinji warns.
Officials take notice
A fortnight ago, Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago highlighted the issue before the Senate.
"Honourable Speaker, recently in my county, we witnessed a situation where clean drinking water from Eldowas was mixed up with wastewater… sewage water. Honourable Speaker, we had a whole diarrhoea menace in the county. Before we could settle Mr Speaker recently, we were served with water that looked like 'strong tea' from Eldowas," he told the House, reminding the county administration of its responsibility regarding water and sanitation management.
"County governments must take the management of water and provision seriously and take the necessary steps to ensure that there is clean water so that the health of our citizens is also guaranteed," he stated.
Health experts sound alarm
With the prevailing situation, residents fear outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery, especially as the long rainy season begins – effects that could extend beyond Langas to the entire city of Eldoret and its environs.
Health experts in the region share these concerns. "Matters of sanitation related to sewage, if not treated well, result in deaths attributed to cholera, malaria, serious gastrointestinal infections, to respiratory problems," warned Dr Christopher Saina of the School of Environmental Sciences, University of Eldoret.
Dr Saina urged Eldowas to work with the local community and other stakeholders to solve the health crisis. He noted that population increase, aged sewer systems, vandalism, and poor waste disposal habits contribute to frequent sewage pipe bursts and outflows of raw sewage.
Eldowas responds
When contacted, Eldowas attributed the crisis to last-mile sewer connectivity projects. Its management blamed residents for misuse of sewer lines, accusing them of allegedly disposing of solid waste in systems meant for liquid and semi-solid waste, causing blockages and spills.
Eldowas Managing Director Lawrence Melly cited frequent vandalism on the sewage line systems even after maintenance efforts. He said some of the leakages result from vandalism, urging residents to help fight the vice.
However, Melly assured that the matter is being addressed and promised that a lasting solution will be found.
Stakeholders recommend revamping the sewage system to accommodate the increased population of what is now officially designated as Eldoret City. Until then, residents of Yamumbi continue their daily battle against an invisible enemy carried by the toxic streams flowing through their community.
