Winning Clean Air for Kenya

Since 1974, a pulp mill in Western Kenya has been polluting the air and water in the town of Webuye. Visitors report that the air smells like rotten cabbage and "snowstorms" of foam droplets from the mill`s waste ponds cloud the sky and burn the skin and nose. Corrugated iron roofs on local homes are corroded within months.

Now is the time to speak out

A medical technician at the local hospital speaks from her own experience:

Corrugated iron roofs on local homes are corroded within months. (Photo: www.gcmonitor.org)

"We have suffered for a long time. It is very difficult for common people to reach up and be heard by the [mill`s] leaders. My husband died and it is difficult for a widow to forge ahead for the safety of the family. People tell you to keep quiet, but now is the right time to speak out. Babies are being born with chest and breathing problems. Our children will have no future if they are born sick into this world."

ELAW and Partners Seek Relief for Webuye

ELAW is working with the Resources Conflict Institute, based in Nakuru, and the Centre for Environment and Development Education Programmes, based in Webuye, to test local air quality. Global Community Monitor provided training sanctioned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (Photo: www.gcmonitor.org)

In July 2007, ELAW Staff Scientist Mark Chernaik began working with grassroots advocates at the Resources Conflict Institute and Global Community Monitor to seek relief for the Webuye residents.

ELAW provided key support to train a team of local community members ("Bucket Brigadiers") to take samples of the toxic pollutants using specially outfitted $70 buckets.

In September 2007, the Bucket Brigadiers captured air samples in their buckets and sent the evidence to a laboratory in California for testing. The data provided compelling evidence of pollution levels in Webuye: the hydrogen sulfide level was more than 500 times the permissible limit in California and more than 140 times the World Health Organization standard.

For the first time, Webuye residents have scientific proof that they are being forced to breathe contaminated air. The Resources Conflict Institute will use this evidence to call for corporate accountability and compensation for the pollution victims.