Hydrological Impacts of Land Use Changes on Water Resources Management and Socio-Economic Development of the Upper Ewaso Ng'iro River Basin in Kenya : PhD: UNESCO-IHE Institute, Delft

Offers an assessment of the hydrological impacts of land use changes on water resources management and socio-economic development of the upper Ewaso Ng'iro river basin in Kenya. This title considers the impact of irrigation on dry season river flows and highlights the challenge of flood storage strategies.

The need to improve food production in semi-arid environments of sub-Saharan Africa cannot be overemphasized. Agricultural production is generally low (1 ton haÝsuperscript -1¨), which is synonymous with a poverty threshold of US$1 dayÝsuperscript -1¨. The situation is aggravated by water scarcity where many countries are below the per capita water security threshold of 1,000mÝsuperscript 3¨ yrÝsuperscript -1¨. However, despite the seemly desperate situation, rainwater harvesting and management (RHM) is a viable intervention for upgrading rainfed agriculture, improving water supply and sustainable livelihoods in water-scarce river basins. The overall objective was to assess the hydrological impacts of land use changes on water resources management and socio-economic development of upper Ewaso Ng''iro river basin in Kenya. This was accomplished through field survey of potential RHM systems, comparative case studies, agro-hydrological and hydro-economic evaluation of on-farm storage & in-situ RHM systems and assessment of the impacts flood storage on dry season irrigation water abstractions.