Browsing by Author "Kariuki, Patrick C."

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  • Publication
    Publication
    Assessment of the Impact of Groundwater Fluoride on Human Health: A Case Study of Makindu District in Kenya
    (Journal of Earth Science & Climatic Change, 2017) Mbithi, Francisca M.; Kariuki, Patrick C.; Gikuma-Njuru, Peter
    Assessment of human exposure to the naturally occurring fluoride in groundwater in Kenya has not being exhaustive. This study investigated the extent of human exposure to fluoride and its impact on human health in Makindu District, and evaluated the potential risk of using ground water contaminated by fluoride ion (F-). The study used an ex post facto design and the data collection tools used were interviews, questionnaires, key informants and observation. Water from three boreholes and a spring in the study areas was analysed for pH, Total Alkalinity, Total Hardness, and concentrations of Fluoride, Chloride, Sulfate, Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium and Potassium. The collected data was analyzed using the Ms-Excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results show that majority of the respondents relied on tap water from springs. Raw water from Makindu Spring, the main source of drinking water for Makindu Town, had fluoride concentration of 1.1 mg/L, which is below the WHO maximum allowable value of 1.5 mg/L. All the three boreholes covered during the study had fluoride concentration above the WHO maximum allowable value. This implied that the population that relied on boreholes as a source of water was exposed to health risk associated with high fluoride. 38.4% and 33.3% of the respondents, respectively from Kiboko Location and Makindu Location, had moderately to severely mottled enamel, an indication of the impact of fluoride in water. It is recommended that defluoridation systems should be introduced and that alternative sources of water be developed to mitigate the impacts of high fluoride water to the local communities
  • Publication
    Publication
    Modelling soil erosion for land management in ungauged golole catchment in Marsabit County, Kenya
    (Scientific Research Publishing, 2018-11-13) Njiru, Gabriel N.; Kariuki, Patrick C.; Mwetu, Kennedy
    This study modeled soil erosion between January 2016 and September 2018for land management in Golole catchment. The Revised Universal Soil LossEquation (RUSLE) constituting the main agents of soil erosion was modeledin a Geographical Information System (GIS) environment. The objective ofthis study was to model soil erosion for land management in the ungaugedGolole catchment. The Golole catchment soil erosion map reveals that withinthe catchment the soil loss was not homogeneous and erosion risk was notthe same. The catchment experiences an annual mean score soil loss rate of279 t/ha that is above the recommended maximum allowable annual soil lossrate of 4 t/ha. The catchment’s soil loss rate is described as high and severerepresenting 70% and 30% of landmass respectively. This study found theneed to decelerate the above soil loss rates to moderate and low levels byadopting soil erosion mitigation measures such as stone contour ridges, manure, strip cropping, and terracing in the cultivated areas and controlledgrazing in the lowland rangeland. The study strongly felt the need to protectthe forest reserve from tree cutting and further human encroachment. Thisstudy concludes that there is the need for further research 1) in the forest reserve areas that showed the greatest rates of soil erosion menace to determinethe underlying causes, and 2) to assess the temporal trends of the soil erosionhazard using high-resolution data.