MASENO UNIVERSITY POLUTING DRINKING WATER SOURCE

BY ELIUD AUDI.
Luocome reporter (Karateng')

Traders and residents of Maseno town center and Umaji village are requesting the Kisumu district health officer to come to their aid and rescue them from possible disease out-break in that region due to alleged sewer diversion into a local stream known as Aora Loko.

According to a hotel proprietor in Maseno, Mr Stephen Wasuna, the smell and filth in the stream is a serious health hazard affecting many lives. The water from the stream is depended upon by residents for both domestic and commercial water consumptions. Mr. Wasuna accused the adjacent learning institution, Maseno University for the pollution.

Aora Loko is a combination of two streams flowing through the university from the adjacent Maragoli hills before meandering its way through Seme, into lake Victoria. It is not just the Maseno and Umazi residents who are dependent on it for water, but thousands more residing close to it on its way into lake Victoria.

A visit by this journalist to the stream revealed a nasty smell and dark green specimen on the water. However attempts to contact the University management did not yield fruit as they were said to be out of the institution on official duty. A junior employee of institution, the who requested anonymity, confirmed that the University indeed discharges its sewage into the stream (Aora Loko) at the present time.