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Impact of development and management options on water resources of the upper Mara River Basin of Kenya
Author(s) -
Omonge Paul,
Herrnegger Mathew,
Gathuru Gladys,
Fürst Josef,
Olang Luke
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/wej.12554
Subject(s) - water resources , water resource management , agriculture , current (fluid) , water conservation , environmental science , resource (disambiguation) , drainage basin , water consumption , demand management , structural basin , water supply , farm water , water use , consumption (sociology) , industrial water , environmental engineering , geography , engineering , economics , ecology , computer science , macroeconomics , computer network , archaeology , biology , paleontology , cartography , electrical engineering , social science , waste management , sociology
This study employed the Water Evaluation and Planning model to evaluate selected policy‐based water development and management options on water resources of the upper Mara Basin of Kenya. The major water resources of the region were identified and quantified to establish the current demand versus supply status. Data on domestic water consumption, agricultural demand and industrial consumption were collected through a rigorous fieldwork campaign and used to define the current state of water use and demand. The water resource model was calibrated and validated against observed discharges and subsequently used to simulate the selected policy‐based options. Results indicate that an increase between 49% and 180%, depending on the assumed scenario, in annual water demand is expected by the year 2030. As a conclusion, the simulations demonstrate that there is both the need and significant potential to reduce the demand by implementing water conservation measures.