It has been one week since the short rains started. This is two months late after my neighbor's son died from asthma after being exposed to gusts of dust at his local school. This was after an entire year of drought, marked by sparse rainfall. And yet, we live in an area generously covered by trees and vegetation where soil erosion is minimal.  How then did dust cause an innocent child’s death? The answer is more nuanced than it seems. Apparently, not all forms of dust pollution are visible to the naked eye.

To fully appreciate the extent of dust pollution, I took a photo of the neighborhood dam where I live in Limuru. The water in the dam has a deep brown color from dust pollution. Some of the dust particles are so fine that they are barely visible. However when it rains, the dust leaches into water, becoming fully visible. Also to blame is soil erosion which causes the siltation of the dam downstream.

The indifference towards dust pollution is startling to say the least. Maybe because sometimes dust particles are too minute for us to see, but rather because we can’t immediately see its effects. From inhalation, dust pollution can cause lung cancer, visibility impairment and even nonfatal heart attacks from aggravated breathing. But perhaps the most disconcerting thing about dust pollution is that it is not localized. Because wind carries dust to great distances. River siltation results into contamination of water sources , which then becomes a health hazard for human beings and animals.

This is precisely why we have to stop it, not only to preserve soil cover, but to preserve lives as well. What have your experiences with dust pollution and siltation been like?