IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v22y2008i12p1859-1879.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Hydrological Impacts of Flood Storage and Management on Irrigation Water Abstraction in Upper Ewaso Ng’iro River Basin, Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Ngigi
  • Hubert Savenije
  • Francis Gichuki

Abstract

The upper Ewaso Ng’iro basin, which starts from the central highlands of Kenya and stretches northwards transcending different climatic zones, has experienced decreasing river flows for the last two decades. The Naro Moru sub-basin is used to demonstrate the looming water crisis in this water scarce river basin. The objective of the study was to show the extent of dry seasons’ irrigation water abstractions on river flows, and to assess the hydrological impact of flood storage on temporal water distribution and irrigation water management. Decreasing river flows are attributed to over-abstraction mainly for irrigating horticultural crops. The number of abstractors has increased four times over a period of 10 years. The amount of water abstracted has also increased by 64% over the last 5 years. Moreover, the proportion of unauthorized abstractions has been increasing over the years, currently at about 80% and 95% during high and low flows respectively. This has resulted in alarming conflicts among various water users. The situation is aggravated by low irrigation efficiency (25–40%) and inadequate flood storage facilities. The paper analyzes over 40 years’ observed river flow data and 5-year interval water abstraction monitoring records for 15 years. It assesses whether flood storage and management, can reduce dry seasons’ irrigation water abstractions without significantly reducing river flows to affect the sustenance of natural ecosystems downstream. The results demonstrate that flood storage and management can reduce water abstraction and increase river flows during the dry seasons, without significantly reducing high flows to affect the downstream water users. However, socio-economic, hydrological and environmental implications should be considered if a sustainable river basin water resources management strategy is to be developed and implemented. The case study of Naro Moru sub-basin is representative of the situation in the other sub-basins, and hence can be taken as a pilot basin for developing an integrated water resources management strategy that will foster socio-economic development with minimal negative hydrological impacts in the water scarce upper Ewaso Ng’iro river basin. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Ngigi & Hubert Savenije & Francis Gichuki, 2008. "Hydrological Impacts of Flood Storage and Management on Irrigation Water Abstraction in Upper Ewaso Ng’iro River Basin, Kenya," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 22(12), pages 1859-1879, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:22:y:2008:i:12:p:1859-1879
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-008-9257-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-008-9257-5
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-008-9257-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jun Xia & Lu Zhang & Changming Liu & Jingjie Yu, 2007. "Towards better water security in North China," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(1), pages 233-247, January.
    2. Malin Falkenmark, 2007. "Shift in thinking to address the 21st century hunger gap," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(1), pages 3-18, January.
    3. Gichuki, F. N., 2002. "Water scarcity and conflicts: a case study of the Upper Ewaso Ng'iro North Basin," IWMI Books, Reports H030836, International Water Management Institute.
    4. Ngigi, S. N. & Thome, J. N. & Waweru, D. W. & Blank, H. G., 2001. "Low-cost irrigation for poverty reduction: an evaluation of low-head drip irrigation technologies in Kenya," IWMI Books, Reports H028340, International Water Management Institute.
    5. Thomas Berger & Regina Birner & Nancy Mccarthy & JosÉ DíAz & Heidi Wittmer, 2007. "Capturing the complexity of water uses and water users within a multi-agent framework," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(1), pages 129-148, January.
    6. International Water Management Institute (IWMI)., 2005. "Environmental flows: planning for environmental water allocation," IWMI Water Policy Briefings H037891, International Water Management Institute.
    7. Smakhtin, Vladimir U. & Revenga, C. & Doll, P., 2004. "Taking into account environmental water requirements in global-scale water resources assessments," IWMI Research Reports H031758, International Water Management Institute.
    8. Blank, H. G. & Mutero, C. M. & Murray-Rust, H., 2002. "The changing face of irrigation in Kenya: opportunities for anticipating changes in Eastern and Southern Africa," IWMI Books, Reports H030816, International Water Management Institute.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ralph Lasage & Jeroen Aerts & Peter Verburg & Alemu Sileshi, 2015. "The role of small scale sand dams in securing water supply under climate change in Ethiopia," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 317-339, February.
    2. I. Tsanis & M. Apostolaki, 2009. "Estimating Groundwater Withdrawal in Poorly Gauged Agricultural Basins," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(6), pages 1097-1123, April.
    3. Wambura, Frank Joseph & Dietrich, Ottfried & Graef, Frieder, 2018. "Analysis of infield rainwater harvesting and land use change impacts on the hydrologic cycle in the Wami River basin," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 124-137.
    4. J. Pachpute & S. Tumbo & H. Sally & M. Mul, 2009. "Sustainability of Rainwater Harvesting Systems in Rural Catchment of Sub-Saharan Africa," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(13), pages 2815-2839, October.
    5. Welderufael, W.A. & Woyessa, Y.E. & Edossa, D.C., 2013. "Impact of rainwater harvesting on water resources of the modder river basin, central region of South Africa," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 218-227.
    6. R. Ghazavi & A. Vali & S. Eslamian, 2012. "Impact of Flood Spreading on Groundwater Level Variation and Groundwater Quality in an Arid Environment," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(6), pages 1651-1663, April.
    7. Selome Tessema & Steve Lyon & Shimelis Setegn & Ulla Mörtberg, 2014. "Effects of Different Retention Parameter Estimation Methods on the Prediction of Surface Runoff Using the SCS Curve Number Method," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(10), pages 3241-3254, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wei, Shouke & Yang, Hong & Song, Jinxi & Abbaspour, Karim C. & Xu, Zongxue, 2012. "System dynamics simulation model for assessing socio-economic impacts of different levels of environmental flow allocation in the Weihe River Basin, China," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 221(1), pages 248-262.
    2. Venot, Jean-Philippe & Sharma, Bharat R. & Rao, K. V. G. K., 2008. "The lower Krishna Basin trajectory: relationships between basin development and downstream environmental degradation," IWMI Research Reports H041463, International Water Management Institute.
    3. Lenka Slavíková & Vítězslav Malý & Michael Rost & Lubomír Petružela & Ondřej Vojáček, 2013. "Impacts of Climate Variables on Residential Water Consumption in the Czech Republic," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(2), pages 365-379, January.
    4. Lingcheng Li & Liping Zhang & Jun Xia & Christopher Gippel & Renchao Wang & Sidong Zeng, 2015. "Implications of Modelled Climate and Land Cover Changes on Runoff in the Middle Route of the South to North Water Transfer Project in China," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(8), pages 2563-2579, June.
    5. Hanjra, Munir A. & Qureshi, M. Ejaz, 2010. "Global water crisis and future food security in an era of climate change," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 365-377, October.
    6. Coronese, Matteo & Occelli, Martina & Lamperti, Francesco & Roventini, Andrea, 2023. "AgriLOVE: Agriculture, land-use and technical change in an evolutionary, agent-based model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    7. Shang, Linmei & Heckelei, Thomas & Gerullis, Maria K. & Börner, Jan & Rasch, Sebastian, 2021. "Adoption and diffusion of digital farming technologies - integrating farm-level evidence and system interaction," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    8. Feng Gao & Yuhu Zhang & Xiulin Ren & Yunjun Yao & Zengchao Hao & Wanyuan Cai, 2018. "Evaluation of CHIRPS and its application for drought monitoring over the Haihe River Basin, China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 92(1), pages 155-172, May.
    9. Carauta, Marcelo & Troost, Christian & Guzman-Bustamante, Ivan & Hampf, Anna & Libera, Affonso & Meurer, Katharina & Bönecke, Eric & Franko, Uwe & Ribeiro Rodrigues, Renato de Aragão & Berger, Thomas, 2021. "Climate-related land use policies in Brazil: How much has been achieved with economic incentives in agriculture?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    10. Miao Yu & Dong Liu & Jean Dieu Bazimenyera, 2013. "Diagnostic Complexity of Regional Groundwater Resources System Based on time series fractal dimension and Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(7), pages 1897-1911, May.
    11. Xuan, Wang & Quan, Cui & Shuyi, Li, 2012. "An optimal water allocation model based on water resources security assessment and its application in Zhangjiakou Region, northern China," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 57-65.
    12. Hmaed Najafi Alamdarlo & Fariba Riyahi & Mohamad Hasan Vakilpoor, 2019. "Wheat Self-Sufficiency, Water Restriction and Virtual Water Trade in Iran," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 503-520, June.
    13. Teresa Torregrosa & Martín Sevilla & Borja Montaño & Victoria López-Vico, 2010. "The Integrated Management of Water Resources in Marina Baja (Alicante, Spain). A Simultaneous Equation Model," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(14), pages 3799-3815, November.
    14. Rijsberman, Frank R., 2006. "Water scarcity: Fact or fiction?," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 80(1-3), pages 5-22, February.
    15. Rajesh Nune & Biju George & Pardhasaradhi Teluguntla & Andrew Western, 2014. "Relating Trends in Streamflow to Anthropogenic Influences: A Case Study of Himayat Sagar Catchment, India," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(6), pages 1579-1595, April.
    16. Yang Wei & Boyang Sun, 2021. "Optimizing Water Use Structures in Resource-Based Water-Deficient Regions Using Water Resources Input–Output Analysis: A Case Study in Hebei Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-15, April.
    17. Gao, Xuerui & Zhao, Yong & Lu, Shibao & Chen, Qianyun & An, Tingli & Han, Xinxueqi & Zhuo, La, 2019. "Impact of coal power production on sustainable water resources management in the coal-fired power energy bases of Northern China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C), pages 821-833.
    18. Faramarzi, Monireh & Yang, Hong & Schulin, Rainer & Abbaspour, Karim C., 2010. "Modeling wheat yield and crop water productivity in Iran: Implications of agricultural water management for wheat production," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(11), pages 1861-1875, November.
    19. Cook, Simon, 2006. "Water productivity: measuring and mapping in benchmark basins. Estimation at plot, farm and basin scale," IWMI Working Papers H039742, International Water Management Institute.
    20. Atapattu, Sithara & Molden, David, 2006. "Achieving food and environmental security: better river basin management for healthy coastal zones," IWMI Books, Reports H039123, International Water Management Institute.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:22:y:2008:i:12:p:1859-1879. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.