Naivasha residents have a reason to smile as Kenya Informal Settlement Improvement Project (KISIP) and Nakuru County government seek to implement an innovative project to supply fluoride-free drinking water to over 500,000 households.

Governor Susan Kihika announced that she would, in coming weeks, launch the multi-billion shilling water reticulation and defluoridation project that would entail 7.8 kilomtrers of piping, backfilling, and field coating from Naivasha Law Courts to Karagita low-income settlements.

Kihika stated that over-reliance on underground water sources, particularly in Longonot and Maai Mahiu areas had exposed residents to high risk of suffering from dental fluorosis and crippling skeletal deformities.

State Department of Housing and Urban Development has pumped Sh1 billion towards upgrade of informal settlements in Nakuru, under the Second Phase of the KISIP II.

The State through the World Bank-funded programme, granted Nakuru Sh1 billion towards ongoing projects, to improve access to basic services in the low-income settlements of Karagita slums in Naivasha and Kwa-Murogi, London and Lake View within Nakuru Town.

Governor Kihika said there are plans to increase the number of alternative fluoride-free water sources, noting that there were high concentrations of fluoride in the local boreholes, sometimes way above the 1.5 milligrammes per litre allowed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“Residents of Naivasha will for the first time enjoy piped fluoride-free water from Malewa River. In the meantime, our experts have been working round the clock in all the 11 Sub-counties to identify fluoride-free areas that will see more boreholes established, to help meet rising water demand,” she said. KISIP II is domiciled at the State Department for Housing and Urban Development and is implemented through participating county governments.

The Sh24.1 billion has been donated by World Bank and the French Development Agency Sh7.6 billion to address infrastructure, water, lighting and social inclusion in 33 counties. Underground water sources in Naivasha, Njoro, Nakuru Town West, Gilgil, Nakuru East and Bahati sub-counties have been singled out as having high concentrations of fluoride.

Recent study

Situation is worse in Naivasha where boreholes were the main source of water with a recent study indicating that most of the private boreholes have fluoride levels way above the recommended 1.5 mg/litre.

According to the study commissioned by the County Government, fluoride levels range between 2.15mg/litre to as high as 6.5 mg/litre in the 15 boreholes sampled during the analysis carried out at the water quality testing laboratory.

Kihika said that her administration is also committed to minimising the impact of fluoride in all the sub-counties, by ensuring that its water service providers were supplying “blended water” which is within the recommended levels by WHO.

“We have two river sources, one emanating from Dundori where at the moment, we get about four million litres per day and the other water from Malewa. The water from these rivers is channeled into our main treatment works where we do the blending with water from underground sources,” she explained.

Nakuru Water and Sanitation Services Company (Nawassco), sources its water from 25 boreholes; one in Kiondo, eight in Kabatini, three in Nairobi Road, five in Baharini, and eight in Olobanitaa.

The company serves a population of more than one million during the day and approximately 530,000 during the night.

The Naivasha Water and Sanitation Company Limited (Naivawasco) gets its raw water from 13 boreholes, located in six production sites. It serves a population of about 170, 000 out of the 198,444 people, according to the 2019 census.

Kihika further said her administration was supporting initiatives towards developing water distribution networks that includes water kiosks fitted with defluoridation filters using “local bone char technology.”

Bones are put through four steps to transform them into defluoridation material. First, they are burnt, then crushed and sieved before being washed and then dried.

The final product is a greyish and porous granular material whose main components are calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate and activated carbon, and it is this peculiar chemical composition, the developers believe, that gives the char its specific ability to absorb fluoride from water.

“These filters have reduced fluoride levels from 9 mg/litre to below 1.5 mg/litre, greatly improving the quality of consumption water and reducing the risk of fluorosis and a host of other harmful health effects. We are encouraging adoption of these small bone char defluoridation units, some which can be used at home,” stated the County boss

Scientists say millions of Kenyans are at risk of serious bone defects and dental discolouration as a result of high levels of fluoride in their drinking water.

The risk is made worse by the fact that as the rest of the world moves to treated and piped water systems, more than half of Kenyans (56 per cent) still rely on underground water, which the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) defines as, among others, water fetched from wells and boreholes.

Data from Kenya Society for Fluoride Research further shows that 19 million Kenyans suffer from fluorosis, affecting the teeth and/or skeleton, depending on the length of time one has been exposed to water with a high concentration of fluoride, and their geographical location.

Dental patients

Three years ago, scientists conducted a study on the levels of fluoride in Gilgil and Njoro sub-counties.
Research conducted by Patrick Kirita Gevera and Hassina Mouri both of Department of Geology, University of Johannesburg and Godfrey Maronga from Department of Restorative Dentistry, University of Western Cape sampled dental patients at St Mary’s Hospital-Gilgil and Egerton University-Njoro Dental Clinic.

The findings were startling with the prevalence of patients with dental fluorosis who visited St. Mary’s Hospital-Gilgil for dental health care hitting 86 percent, where 54 per cent of the patients suffered from mild to moderate dental fluorosis.

32 percent had severe dental fluorosis, whereas the prevalence of dental fluorosis in patients below the age of 14 years was higher at 92 percent than in older patients which the study established stood at 85.56 percent.

Dental fluorosis mainly affects children with developing teeth, although it affects adults as well.
“There is no cure for dental fluorosis. It can only be prevented. The condition of damaged teeth cannot be restored,” the research report.