Access To Water Resources And Conflicts In The Upper Ewaso Nyiro North River Sub-Basin: A Case Of Laikipia County, Kenya
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Date
2019Author
Lesrima, Simeon Saimanga
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
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The purpose of this study was to assess water access, use, management and conflicts in
the Upper Ewaso Nyiro North River Basin: the case of Laikipia County in Kenya.
Laikipia and neighbouring Meru and Nyeri Counties have multiplicity of water users
who depend mainly on river-water for their livelihood. Laikipia County depends on
water from Meru and Nyeri Counties, ground water resources and rain. In spite of past
research conducted in the area, reviews in national water policies and institutions on
water management, the sub-basin still experiences conflicts between various waters
users. Recurring conflicts over decades is an indication that long-term solutions have
not been found to solve the problem. The research Questions were: how upstream and
downstream water users access, use and manage water; the extent of water related
conflicts and whether there is a link between water access, use and management to
conflicts. Three specific objectives were: (1) to assess how water users access, use and
manage water resources in the study area, (2) assess presence and trends of water related
conflicts and (3) investigate effects of access to water, use and management on water
conflicts in the study area. The Theory of Access and The Game Theory informed the
study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. Upstream and
downstream zones dividing line was set at altitude 1800 (m.a.s.l). Data was collected
using primary and secondary sources. Primary data collection tools were; structured
questionnaires, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, transect, drives and
walks. Descriptive statistics were used for quantitative data analysis (SPSS version 23)
and summative content analysis was applied for qualitative data analysis. The results
show that 87% and 45.5% of the households from upstream and downstream
respectively source water from household taps. On water uses, the study results show
that 45.1% and 43.7% of the respondents mention pastoralists and farmers upstream
and downstream respectively as the largest consumers of water in the study area. The
study further found that 43.7% and 46.9% of the respondents downstream and upstream
respectively point at pastoralists as the largest water users in the study area. The study
findings indicate that the study area had rules and regulation in place to manage water
resources as shown by 88% of the respondent who admitted to awareness of existence
of management water rules and regulations. Results show that 71.4% of the respondents
go on to suggest adherence to rules regulations as major strategies to apply in order to
ensure equity in water access. The study findings also find that 66.7% and 49.4% of
downstream and upstream households respectively agree on the presence of water
related conflicts in the study area. The households further indicate that water conflicts
in the study area are seasonal (60.7%) and unpredictable (26.6%). Majority (78%) of
the respondents were confident that the institutions they reported water conflicts
occurrence to had the capacity and ability to deal with theproblem. The results showed
that water access, use and management had significant effect on conflicts. The study
concluded that there is a link between accesses, use and management water to conflicts
in the study area and that inequalities in water access is due to ineffective water
management institutions. The study recommends adherence to water rules and
regulations.
Publisher
UoN
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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