• EDL is a license issued to companies, industries or facilities discharging effluents into the environment. 
  • The permit is issued when the facility operator confirms that the effluent discharged to the environment is within the required permissible NEMA standards aside from not impacting water quality negatively.

In a crackdown on environmental violations, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has apprehended the proprietors of several hotels in Kitui for operating without the required Effluent Discharge License (EDL).

EDL is a license issued to companies, industries or facilities discharging effluents into the environment. The permit is issued when the facility operator confirms that the effluent discharged to the environment is within the required permissible NEMA standards aside from not impacting water quality negatively.

The affected hotels include Kitui Premier, Summer Oasis, Kitui Resort, Heritage, and Park Side Villa hotels in Kitui town. These establishments failed to comply with the previous Improvement Orders issued by NEMA, which required them to obtain the necessary permits to release treated wastewater into the environment as per the Water Quality Regulations.

The violations were not limited to the hotel industry. NEMA also discovered that Jordan Hospital Medical College in Kitui Town had been pumping untreated effluent (raw sewer) into a public road.

Jordan Hospital Medical College in Kitui Town. (Photo/Courtesy: NEMA on X)

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They also had yet to apply for an Effluent Discharge License, which is illegal as stipulated in the Water Quality Regulations, 2006.

Among the provisions of The Water Quality Regulations, 2006 is that no person shall discharge any effluent from sewage treatment works, industry or other point sources into the aquatic environment without a valid effluent discharge license issued in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

The principal of the institution was subsequently arrested and will be required to answer for the illegal discharge.