Pollution has health impacts, especially when found in high levels of residential areas

Kariobangi’s Harmony estate is a beehive of activity on a Saturday morning. Young men and women carry huge sacks from lorries to the buildings.

Oblivious of the effects of what is going on below them, the residents sit on the balconies of the very buildings that house the factories, busking in the morning sun.

The milling machine chokes into life noisily, releasing a thick stream of dust in to the air. Even this does not get the locals' attention, as they continue with their chores unperturbed.

At another building, a group of women robed in yellow aprons load crates of empty beer bottles from a factory.

“Ethanol is highly flammable and there is a high risk of fire in that factory. It also takes up a lot of water to cool down temperatures. But even more dangerous is the company that burns car batteries to extract lead,” disclosed a worker in confidence.

According to studies, ethanol can lead to nausea, vomiting, dizziness, respiratory paralysis and even cancer, while Lead is very poisonous, as it can affect almost every body organ when inhaled or swallowed.

The desire to genuinely eke a living, put to use their technical and entrepreneur skills and create employment is admirable, but the effects of having factories side by side with residential houses cannot be underrated.

Kariobangi’s Harmony and Light Industries estate holds a string of mini factories that manufacture everything, from counterfeit alcohol to heavy commercial vehicle spare parts.

This has been the norm in Kariobangi, with occasional checks that leave a few companies closed before they reopen shortly after. New companies are started everyday, with unemployed youth always willing to offer cheap labour.

In 2011, eight factory workers were burnt to death at Picasso Chemicals, a paint factory in Nairobi’s Kariobangi estate.

The local authority, in reaction, moved swiftly to close some of the factories operating in the region illegally. However, a few years later, the situation went back to ‘normal’ with more companies coming up?

Today more than 100 factories have mushroomed in the small residential area and the number keeps growing.

Many houses in Kariobangi Light Industries and Harmony estates share walls with manufacturing factories that emit dangerous substance into the air.

While some of the residents welcome the idea on grounds that the factories are their main source of income, they have affirmed that the effects have been overwhelming.

“This estate has grown simply because of the companies here. Almost every ground floor of the residential houses manufactures something,” said Kennedy Ouma, a resident.

Mr Ouma expressed deep understanding of the health hazards of living in the area, but claims the struggle to survive pushed him and many others into making the decision to live right there.

“I have a family, five children, the youngest being only four-months-old. The factories put food on our table,” said the 32-year-old, who works at a milling company.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), pollution can have serious health impacts, especially when found in high levels in residential areas.

The Physical Planning Act also dictates that you cannot zone a residential area together with industrial activities.