scholarly journals Community Knowledge and Perception on Climate Change and Drinking Water Supply in Nzoia River Basin, Kenya

Author(s):  
Ernest Othieno Odwori

Nzoia River Basin is one of the regions in Kenya that is highly vulnerable to climate change. An understanding of community knowledge and perception on climate change and drinking water supply will provide strategic directions for national and county government policy, adaptation strategies and development of community-based guidelines on climate change. This study assessed community knowledge and perception on climate change and drinking water supply in Nzoia River Basin. A cross-sectional survey design was used. Three counties were randomly selected from the basin for study with Busia representing the lower catchment, Kakamega middle catchment and Trans Nzoia upper catchment. The study was carried out from May, 2017 to September, 2017. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select the 403 households administered with questionnaires. An observation checklist was used by the interviewers to collect household- and community-related information. The study results revealed that the community largely comes from low socio-economic background: only 24 % had post secondary education or higher, the majority were small scale farmers, housewives, casual workers and househelps (58 %), and only 25 % earned a monthly income above Ksh. 20,000 (equivalent to US $200). The majority of the participants 81 % had some knowledge about climate change but 19 % did not. On level of knowledge about climate change, 70% know a little/something about climate change, 21% know nothing about climate change and 9% know a lot about climate change. Majority of respondents, 76% receive climate change news from mass media (radio, newspaper and magazines, television); and 81 % point out that climate change will have public health risks in the community. The knowledge level about climate change in the basin was average. National and county governments should work with the sector stakeholders in the basin to improve community knowledge and perception regarding climate change, drinking water supply and health needs with proper content. The results of this study will go a long way in bridging the gap between policy formulation and building adaptive capacity to climate change in the basin.

Author(s):  
Ernest Othieno Odwori

Climate change is already having noticeable effects on water utilities in Nzoia River Basin. Extreme weather and climate-related occurrences are becoming more common and intense, as predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Third Assessment Report. Because most water utilities are unprepared, the repercussions might be severe. The water supply infrastructure is built for resiliency and sustainability of operations during weather events or other circumstances that could potentially interrupt services; but when events that were historically considered to be “100-year” events happen more and more frequently, utilities must prepare for a new normal. These extreme events are occurring or being exceeded more regularly, and as a result, the past may no longer be a reliable predictor of the future. In Nzoia River Basin, the water supply infrastructure currently designed for historical climate conditions is more vulnerable to future weather extremes and climate change. This study assessed the effect of climate change on drinking water utilities in Nzoia River Basin. A cross-sectional survey design was used. Three counties were randomly selected from the basin for study with Busia representing the lower catchment, Kakamega middle catchment and Trans Nzoia upper catchment. The study was carried out from May, 2017 to September, 2017. In-depth expert interviews and brainstorming sessions were used to identify the climate change impacts affecting drinking water utilities experienced in the last ten years in the basin. A carefully selected team of water and climate change experts consisting of decision makers, practitioners, managers, scientists and technology adopters were used to rank the severity of the climate change impacts. Climate change occurring in Nzoia River Basin is expected to have a wide range of consequences for drinking water utilities. By assessing its potential impacts on water utilities, we become better positioned to make improvements today to decrease the future risks. The results of this study provide valuable insights for the national and county governments in preparing to effectively anticipate and respond to the relevant issues that they can expect to face in the coming century.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 922-930 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Richard ◽  
E. Mayr ◽  
M. Zunabovic ◽  
R. Allabashi ◽  
R. Perfler

The implementation and evaluation of biological nitrification as a possible treatment option for the small-scale drinking water supply of a rural Upper Austrian community was investigated. The drinking water supply of this community (average system input volume: 20 m3/d) is based on the use of deep anaerobic groundwater with a high ammonium content of geogenic origin (up to 5 mg/l) which must be treated to prevent the formation of nitrites in the drinking water supply system. This paper describes the implementation and operation of biological nitrification despite several constraints including space availability, location and financial and manpower resources. A pilot drinking water treatment plant, including biological nitrification implemented in sand filters, was designed and constructed for a maximum treatment capacity of 1.2 m3/h. Online monitoring of selected physicochemical parameters has provided continuous treatment performance data. Treatment performance of the plant was evaluated under standard operation as well as in the case of selected malfunction events.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 1729-1746 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Hartmann ◽  
T. Gleeson ◽  
R. Rosolem ◽  
F. Pianosi ◽  
Y. Wada ◽  
...  

Abstract. Karst develops through the dissolution of carbonate rock and is a major source of groundwater contributing up to half of the total drinking water supply in some European countries. Previous approaches to model future water availability in Europe are either too-small scale or do not incorporate karst processes, i.e. preferential flow paths. This study presents the first simulations of groundwater recharge in all karst regions in Europe with a parsimonious karst hydrology model. A novel parameter confinement strategy combines a priori information with recharge-related observations (actual evapotranspiration and soil moisture) at locations across Europe while explicitly identifying uncertainty in the model parameters. Europe's karst regions are divided into four typical karst landscapes (humid, mountain, Mediterranean and desert) by cluster analysis and recharge is simulated from 2002 to 2012 for each karst landscape. Mean annual recharge ranges from negligible in deserts to > 1 m a−1 in humid regions. The majority of recharge rates range from 20 to 50% of precipitation and are sensitive to subannual climate variability. Simulation results are consistent with independent observations of mean annual recharge and significantly better than other global hydrology models that do not consider karst processes (PCR-GLOBWB, WaterGAP). Global hydrology models systematically under-estimate karst recharge implying that they over-estimate actual evapotranspiration and surface runoff. Karst water budgets and thus information to support management decisions regarding drinking water supply and flood risk are significantly improved by our model.


Author(s):  
Ernest Othieno Odwori

Increased wet season rainfall is associated with improved water supply at point water sources and improved river flows and water reservoir levels. For piped water supply schemes with surface water intakes, this is supposed to enhance operations since there is adequate raw water unlike in the dry season where operations are interrupted due to insufficient flows. However, this is not the case in Nzoia River Basin as established by this study. As rainfall increases, drinking water production in treatment plants at Moi’s Bridge, Lumakanda and Busia water supplies decrease and vice versa. Nzoia River Basin is one of the regions that is highly vulnerable to climate variability in Kenya, hence understanding rainfall variability and trends is important for better water resources management and especially drinking water supply. This study aimed at assessing rainfall variability and trends for 3 rainfall stations in Nzoia River Basin; Leissa Farm Kitale, Webuye Agricultural Office and Bunyala Irrigation Scheme and its impact on drinking water production at Moi’s Bridge, Lumakanda and Busia water supplies treatment plants. The rainfall data used in this study covers 31 years period from 1970 to 2001 and was obtained from the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD), Nairobi, Kenya. Monthly water supply production data for Moi’s Bridge, Lumakanda and Busia water supplies covering 15 years period from 2000 to 2014 was obtained from the County governments of Uasin Gishu, Kakamega and Busia. Rainfall variability and trend was analysed using the parametric test of Linear regression analysis and the non-parametric Mann Kendall statistical test. Monthly rainfall and monthly drinking water production was analysed using Pearson moment correlation to establish the relationship between monthly rainfall and monthly drinking water supply production at Mois Bridge, Lumakanda and Busia Water supplies treatment plants. The results of variability and trend in annual rainfall shows Webuye Agricultural Office recording declining rainfall at -0.8994 mm/31 years (-0.029 mm/ year); whereas Leissa Farm Kitale shows increasing rainfall at 1.0325 mm/31 years (0.033 mm/ year) and Bunyala Irrigation Scheme’s rainfall is increasing at 0.5245 mm/31 years (0.017 mm/ year). Drinking water supply production at Moi’s Bridge, Lumakanda and Busia water supplies has been increasing with time between 2000 and 2014. The results of Pearson moment correlation coefficient shows a strong negative relationship between monthly rainfall and monthly drinking water supply production at 0.05 significance level for Moi’s Bridge, Lumakanda and Busia water supplies. This shows that as rainfall increases, drinking water supply production in treatment plants at Moi’s Bridge, Lumakanda and Busia water supplies decreases. During the rainy season, the cost of water treatment goes up as a result of increased turbidity. Increased rainfall in Nzoia River Basin presents water treatment challenges to the existing water supply treatment plants resulting into reduced production.Water supply managers should improve the capacity of the existing water supply treatment plants to cope with the increased rainfall variability under the changing climatic conditions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 163 ◽  
pp. 05001
Author(s):  
Alexander Demin ◽  
Anna Zaitseva

The analysis of the current state of major water consumers and water complex participants is performed. The data on the increase in centralized water supply of the residential accommodation during 2000-2018 is presented. Significant decrease in the volume of water used for drinking water supply is shown. The improvement of water quality in water bodies of most regions is revealed. The use of fresh water for production needs in the Don River basin decreased from 5.8 to 2.9 km3 from 1990 to 2018. The water circulation coefficient in industry increased from 64 to 85%. The area of irrigated lands in the basin has started to decrease significantly since 1990. In 2000 every second hectare of available irrigated land was watered and in 2016 only every fourth was watered.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1032
Author(s):  
Minhaz Farid Ahmed ◽  
Mazlin Bin Mokhtar ◽  
Nuriah Abd Majid

Populations in the Langat River Basin, Malaysia, frequently experience water supply disruption due to the shutdown of water treatment plants (WTPs) mainly from the chemical pollution as well as point and non-point sources of pollution. Therefore, this study investigated the aluminium (Al), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), and lead (Pb) concentrations in the drinking water supply chain at the basin because of its prolonged persistence and toxic characteristics in the aquatic environment. Three replicates of water samples were collected from the river, outlets of WTPs, household tap and filtered water, respectively, in 2015, for analysis by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Higher concentration of these metals was found in household tap water than in the treated water at the WTPs; however, the concentration of these metals at the four stages of the drinking water supply chain conformed to the drinking water quality standard set by the World Health Organization. The Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests also found that metal concentration removal significantly varied among the eight WTPs as well as the five types of household water filtration systems. With regards to the investigated household filtered water, the distilled filtration system was found to be more effective in removing metal concentration because of better management. Therefore, a two-layer water filtration system could be introduced in the Langat River Basin to obtain safe drinking water supply at the household level.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal Sikder ◽  
Mashfiqus Salehin

Availability of safe drinking water is considered a key challenge in the coastal region of Bangladesh. High concentrations of salinity, iron and arsenic, and the unavailability of suitable aquifers, have deterred the exploitation of groundwater resources. In addition the cyclonic storm surge is a major threat to this system. Cyclones accompanied by storm surges in the coastal area cause significant deterioration of drinking water supply and sanitation. Water professionals have launched some initiatives to promote small-scale, alternative safe water sources (e.g. rainwater harvesting, pond sand filters and piped water techniques) to provide sustainable solutions to the problem. However, a systematic evaluation of the alternatives that considers social, technical and economic criteria has not been carried out so far. The present study is an attempt to evaluate the alternative options for drinking water supply in a cyclone-prone area. The authors conducted a multi-criteria analysis and reached the conclusion that rainwater harvesting is the most suitable option for the area. Moreover, the final result was shared with the users to obtain their feedback to ensure sustainability of the water source.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document