Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Barbara Heemink

Document Type

Other

Publication Date

9-17-2010

Abstract

The overall intent of this professional project was to provide a preliminary assessment of domestic water consumption discrepancies between commercial farms and majengos at Lake Naivasha, Kenya. As this issue of concern had not been previously studied, pre-determined factors known to incur domestic water consumption discrepancies were utilized, in relation to a regulatory setting, with the purpose of llustrating the viability of this problem. Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya, Africa. Over the last fifteen years, the horticulture and floriculture industry at Lake Naivasha has steadily grown, with the most intense development occurring in the late 1990's. The rapid growth of the commercial horticulture and floriculture industry, compounded by Kenya's high unemployment rate, has resulted in an increase in the populace in the region immediately surrounding Lake Naivasha, based on perceived employment opportunities to native Kenyans with these farms. The problem addressed in this professional project is that there are discrepancies in meeting the basic human domestic water consumption requirements (BWR) of 50 liters per person per day (Up/d) between residents of majengos and commercial horticulture and floriculture farms at Lake Naivasha. The BWR are those requisite for subsistence purposes and provided in sufficient quantity and quality needed to sustain a healthy human life. The primary purpose of this professional project was to verify that social Considerations, inclusive of water supply infrastructure, community commonalities, and structured representation; the nature and extent of surface water use; and surface water access, distance, and retrieval and transportation methods, and alternative sources of domestic water supply are direct factors attributing to discrepancies in domestic water consumption such that residents of majengos at Lake Naivasha were not meeting the BWR of 50 Up/d, whereas commercial farms were consuming domestic water in excess of the BWR. The secondary purpose of this professional project was to determine if the current land tenure system and the water resource legislative framework promoted the incurrence of the above factors resulting in discrepancies in meeting the BWR between residents of majengos and Commercial farms. A field-based study was completed in the region situated within approximately 2 km of Lake Naivasha's southern shoreline. The study area incorporated 24 of the acknowledged 38 commercial farms reliant solely on surface water at Lake Naivasha and four of the seven majengos documented at Lake Naivasha. The results of the field-based study, augmented by cited literature and available documents, indicated there were discrepancies in domestic water consumption quantities between the two stakeholders due to the absence of municipally and community-owned and/or operated water supply infrastructure, and the absolute absence of commonality between majengo members and commercial farms with regards to structured representation, economic and social status, employment types, standard of living, the extent and nature of surface water use, surface water access, distance, and retrieval and transportation methods, and alternative sources of domestic water supply water. Furthermore, the determination was made that commercial farms were consuming domestic water at quantities greater than 50 Up/d. There were insufficient usable data to empirically confirm that members of majengos were consuming domestic water at quantities less than the BWR. The determination was made that there is a direct correlation between the land tenure system and water resource legislative framework and the noted discrepancies in domestic water consumption between the two stakeholders. Specifically, components of the current land tenure system and water resource legislative framework incur discrepancies between majengo members and commercial farms with regards to the extent and nature of surface water use, surface water access, and alternative sources of domestic water supply water. This professional project illuminated the discrepancies in domestic water consumption between commercial farm members and residents of majengos within the study area. The results of the preliminary assessment indicated that commercial farms are consuming domestic water at quantities greater than 50 Up/d; whereas there is a strong likelihood that majengo members are consuming domestic water at quantities less than the BWR. Inherently, the recommendation is made that future research be completed to empirically determine if majengo members are not consuming domestic water at quantities that meet the BWR, and qualitatively define the rationale for such occurrences. The results of the future research should ultimately be applicable for use by others in determining measures, whether it be legislative, economic, or social, that can be implemented such that all residents at Lake Naivasha are provided the inherent right to domestic water in quantities adequate for human health and sustainability.

Language (ISO)

English

Keywords

Water use--Kenya--Naivasha, Lake, Region., Water consumption--Kenya--Naivasha, Lake, Region., Water-supply--Kenya--Naivasha, Lake, Region--Planning., Integrated water development--Kenya--Naivasha, Lake, Region--Planning., Land tenure--Economic aspects--Kenya--Naivasha, Lake, Region.

Comments

A Professional Project Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Water Resources, Policy/Management Concentration, Water Resources Program, University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico December 2005.

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