Less than 100 kilometers from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia lies Lake Koka - an expanse of freshwater that supports the lives of over 15,000 people. Lake Koka is one of the lakes in the East African Rift Valley. For years, it has served generations of Oromo families as the only source of clean drinking water, freshwater fishing and water for irrigation. Now, this precious commodity is under irreversible pressure from economic development.

Tanneries, flower farms and various small-scale factories, manufacturing from soaps to sugar to plastic, have sprung up in the last 50 years, especially in the last decade, along the Akaki-Awash river basins. Industrial effluents containing deadly chemicals, such as heavy metals and organic pollutants, from these adjacent factories and flower farms stream into lakes and rivers that support millions of the area residents as the only source of water for drinking, cooking, and washing as well as livestock feed.

A scientific study has found heavy metals, which are said to severely impair water quality, in samples taken from Lake Koka and adjacent factories - confirming the source of pollution. A February 2009 documentary titled Green Lake by Al Jazeera Television showed how residents were left hopeless and helpless by local and federal government authorities in Ethiopia. Primarily of the Oromo nation, these residents have experienced deadly health impacts from the contaminated Lake Koka, such as diarrhea, typhoid, skin blisters, gastroenteritis, urinary tract infection and liver disease.

A local Oromo resident stated in desperation:

"It is better to die thirsty than to drink this water. We are drinking a disease. We told the local authorities that our cattle and goats died due to this polluted water, but nobody helped."

Here is a tragic story of Amina, another Oromo resident of the affected area, and her family:

"I gave birth to nine children. Six of them died: Makida, Hadiri, Tahir, Sultan, Kasim, Kalil. Three survived. My husband also died. I have lost seven members of my family. They were all vomiting and having diarrhea with blood in it. We visited a health center, but we were told the problem was associated with water. I feel sad about my dead children and husband. I wake at night thinking of them, and I now worry if my remaining children will survive. I don’t even know if I will survive. Except for God, we have no hope."

The government, led Mr. Meles Zenawi of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) since 1991, has turned blind eye to this inconvenient truth and has vowed to show no regard to environmental concerns that slow down the economic exploitation of much of Oromia and south Ethiopia, which has been predominantly agricultural-oriented until the early 2000's, when these regions were put under industrial development with no safety or environmental regulations of any kind. Probably, the statement of the head of the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority, Dr. Tewoldebirhan Gebregziabher, summarizes the core philosophy of the government/TPLF when it comes to the value of human lives endangered by environmental tragedy:

"There is no human impact that is not felt by other species or by other people. Even when you walk, you kill many insects." (BBC - March 2009)

Video: Green Lake

A Documentary by Al Jazeera (Feb 2009)

Lake Koka lies a few hundred miles south of Addis Abeba. It used to be idyllic.

Today however, it is so heavily polluted that the water glows a toxic green, most of the fish are dead and the thousands of people who have no choice but to drink the lake's water each day are left to deal with a range of problems from babies born with birth defects to chronic diarrhea.

When most think of Ethiopia, images of drought and famine spring to mind. What few realise is that the country is currently experiencing phenomenal economic growth.

This has come at a cost to the environment and to Ethiopia's poor who depend on it.

Scientific Studies: Evidences of Contaminations

HEAVY METALS

According to a 2001 scientific study published in Hydrobiologia by authors G. M. Zinabu and Nicholas J. G. Pearce of Debub University, Ethiopia, and University of Wales, the United Kingdom, respectively: traces of heavy metals, such as As (Arsenic), Hg (Mercury), Cr (Chromium), Pb (Lead) and Cd (Cadmium) were found in concentration levels above the maximum permissible levels (MPL) for drinking water in lakes along the Ethiopian Rift Valley, including Lake Koka.

The same study found similar traces of heavy metals in industrial waste discharges of two adjacent factories - linking them to the pollution of the lakes:

Effluent from a tannery contained about 15, 141, 523, and 19 μg/liter of As, Cr, Fe, and Se, respectively, and effluent from a textile factory contained high concentrations of As (10.6), Hg (3.8) and Se (20) μg/liter.

TOXIC ALGAE

In February 2009 Al Jazeera TV produced a documentary titled Green Lake, in which a sample of algae, covering large area of the once-pristine Lake Koka, was sent to Prof. Brian Whitton of the Environmental Research Center at the University of Durham. The analysis by Prof. Whitton concluded that the algae were of the most deadly form known as Microcystis. Microcystis release toxins that cause severe health impacts to human beings. According to Prof. Whitton, high levels of nitrates and phosphates, which are found in agricultural runoffs and factory effluents, are causing the excessive growth of the deadly green algae in Lake Koka. This study somehow links the flower farms along the Awash River to the pollution of Lake Koka; nitrate and phosphate compounds are essential fertilizers in floriculture.

The government's own Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research states that effluents from a nearby tannery contribute to plant infestations:

"The Water hyacinth infestations in both these areas are exacerbated by the effects of eutrophication, from a tannery in the case of Lake Koka and from heavy fertilizer use in the case of Wonji."

WHO: International Standards for Drinking Water

These are facts from the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the heavy metal contaminants found in lakes along the Ethiopian Rift Valley, including Lake Koka. Most of these chemicals are found to be carcinogenic (cancer-causing) by WHO.

WHO describes the blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), covering large area of Lake Koka, as:

Cyanobacterial toxins cause "liver damage, neurotoxicity and tumor promotion. Acute symptoms reported after exposure include gastrointenstinal disorders, fever and irritations of the skin, ears, eyes, throat and respiratory tract."

Therefore, the concentration levels of deadly heavy metals in lakes along the Ethiopian Rift Valley are much higher than the Maximum Permissible Levels (MPL's) set by WHO.