Water Security

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Browsing Water Security by Funder "South Eastern Kenya University"

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  • Publication
    Publication
    The study of the effects of Mau Catchment Degradation on the Flow of the Mara River, Kenya
    (Journal of Environment and Earth Science, 2017-03-07) Oruma, Samuel Kipampi
    The Mara River is the lifeline of the Trans boundary Mara basin across Kenya and Tanzania.The basin is considered one of the more serene sub-catchments of the Lake Victoria Basinand ultimately the Nile Basin. The basin traverses the famous Maasai Mara and SerengetiNational Parks in Kenya and Tanzania respectively. The basin also contains forests, largescalefarms, smallholder farms, pastoral grazing lands, as well as hunter gatherers and fishers.There is growing concern however, regarding land degradation in the basin, particularlydeforestation in the headwaters, that is affecting the natural resource base and the river flows.Scientific studies are required to advise on policy issues, and to plan appropriate mitigationmeasures. This study utilizes remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS)tools, and hydrological and ground-truth studies to determine the magnitude of the landuse/cover changes in the Mara River Basin, and the effects of these changes on the riverflows over the last 30 years. The results of the studies indicate that land-use/cover changeshave occurred in the basin. In 1973, for example, rangelands (savannah, grasslands andshrublands) covered 10,989 km2 (79%) of the total basin area. The rangelands have now beenreduced to 7,245 km2 (52%) by 2000. The forest areas have been reduced by 32% over thesame period. These changes have been attributed to the encroachment of agriculture, whichhas more than doubled (203%) its land area over the same period. To investigate the effectsof land cover change on river flow, stream flow was generated from derived land coverthematic maps of 1973 and 2000 using the same rainfall and evaporation data of 1983 to 1992period. The other model input datasets for topography and soils were held constantduring the two runs. The differences in the generated hydrographs could only be associated tochanges in land cover, which was the only variable. The percentage difference between themean annual stream flows of the two hydrographs was negligible at 0.01%. This studytherefore concludes that land cover changes in the basin have changed the day to dayflow characteristics of the river but the annual flow volumes remain unaffected. There isneed for urgent action to stem the land degradation of the Mara River Basin, includingplanning and implementing appropriate mitigation measures.
  • Publication
    Publication
    Water scarcity influenced water use coping mechanisms in selected sites of Makueni County, Kenya
    (Archives of Current Research International, 2017-03-04) Nthenge, Anthony K.; Kimiti, Jacinta M.
    Water constitutes a vital element of household food security for humans and livestock. Therefore,the general objective of this study was to establish the ease of water access, water scarcity andcoping strategies used by rural communities in selected study sites of Makueni (Kilili sub-locationin Makueni sub-county and Kyanguli sub-location in Kibwezi East sub-county), all located inMakueni County. The study involved a total of 70 households which were selected using clusterand simple random approach to gather quantitative data using household surveys. The data werecollected using a structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews with key informants. Thecollected data was coded and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).Results from the analysed data were presented using tables. Results obtained revealed thatmajority of the households obtained water from rivers (78%), followed by shallow wells (31%),boreholes (28%), sand dams (24%) and springs (11%). However, most respondents at Kyanguliobtained water from rivers (94%) compared to Kilili (62%). Further, at Kilili sub-location, majority of the households got water within less than 1 km (46%) while at Kyanguli most respondents gotwater within 1-3 km (48%). Five major water access problems were documented in the study sitesincluded increasing distance to water sources, high cost of water, dirty water, water scarcity andconflict with neighboring communities. In overall water scarcity was the commonest problem inboth study sites (77%), followed by dirty water (62%), increasing distance to water sources (45%),high cost of water (44%) and conflict with neighboring communities (43%). Water use copingmechanisms identified in the study included use of water harvesting structures, soil conservationtechniques, diversification of crop types and varieties, irrigation, water reuse, reducing number oflivestock and reduced water use. In overall the commonly used water copying mechanismsincluded soil conservation (85%), water reuse (71%), reduced livestock (64%), reduced water use(55%) and crop diversification (54%). We concluded that water scarcity, dirty water, increasingdistance to water sources, high cost of water and conflict with neighboring communities were themain challenges which led the households to develop water coping mechanisms in the selectedsites of Makueni County. We recommend the results of this study to be used by policy makers inwater development projects in Makueni to improve water availability and access in the selectedstudy sites.