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Water Scarcity In Kenya
Water scarcity in Kenya is affecting the Kenyan population who relies on water resources, not only for drinking but also for agriculture and fishing. For example, wetland grasses are used to feed and keep livestock. Human populations throughout Kenya have been affected by a lack of clean drinking water due in large part to the overuse of land and increases in community settlements. A specific example of this is in the Mau Forest, in the highlands of Kenya, that is a major watershed for the country. In the Mau Complex, individuals have used land for their personal gain, creating homes and farms at the expense of the natural biodiversity. The destruction of trees throughout the forest has caused severe soil erosion, which pollutes the water. This phenomenon exists all over the country and with the addition of animal and human waste into already polluted water, it has made finding clean water generally more difficult for Kenyan citizens. The current water conditions have caused a nu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mau Forest
Mau Forest is a forest complex in the Rift Valley of Kenya. It is the largest indigenous montane forest in East Africa. The Mau Forest complex has an area of . The forest area has some of the highest rainfall rates in Kenya. Mau Forest is the largest drainage basin in Kenya.Daily Nation, July 22, 2008Selfish interests threaten Mau forest Numerous rivers originate from the forest, including the Southern Ewaso Ng'iro, Sondu River, Mara River and Njoro River. These rivers feed Lake Victoria, Lake Nakuru and Lake Natron. The western slopes of the Mau Escarpment are covered by the Mau Forest. Ecology Typical tree species in the Mau Forest include '' Pouteria adolfi-friedericii'', '' Strombosia scheffleri'' and '' Polyscias kikuyuensis''. ''Olea capensis'', ''Prunus africana'', ''Albizia gummifera'', and ''Podocarpus milanjianus'' are also found there. Endemic bird species in the area include Hartlaub's turaco (''Tauraco hartlaubi''), Hunter's cisticola (''Cisticola hunteri'') an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soil Erosion
Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, and animals (including humans). In accordance with these agents, erosion is sometimes divided into water erosion, glacial erosion, snow erosion, wind (aeolean) erosion, zoogenic erosion and anthropogenic erosion such as tillage erosion. Soil erosion may be a slow process that continues relatively unnoticed, or it may occur at an alarming rate causing a serious loss of topsoil. The loss of soil from farmland may be reflected in reduced crop production potential, lower surface water quality and damaged drainage networks. Soil erosion could also cause sinkholes. Human activities have increased by 10–50 times the rate at which erosion is occurring world-wide. Excessive (or accelerated) erosion causes both "on-site" and "off-site" problems. On- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper had a population of 4,397,073 in the 2019 census, while the metropolitan area has a projected population in 2022 of 10.8 million. The city is commonly referred to as the Green City in the Sun. Nairobi was founded in 1899 by colonial authorities in British East Africa, as a rail depot on the Uganda - Kenya Railway.Roger S. Greenway, Timothy M. Monsma, ''Cities: missions' new frontier'', (Baker Book House: 1989), p.163. The town quickly grew to replace Mombasa as the capital of Kenya in 1907. After independence in 1963, Nairobi became the capital of the Republic of Kenya. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. The city lies in the south central part of Kenya, at an elevation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flood Mitigation
In environmental engineering, the flood mitigation involves the management and control of flood water movement, such as redirecting flood run-off through the use of floodwalls and flood gates, rather than trying to prevent floods altogether. It also involves the management of people, through measures such as evacuation and dry/wet proofing properties. The prevention and mitigation of flooding can be studied on three levels: on individual properties, small communities, and whole towns or cities. The costs of protection rise as more people and property are protected. The US FEMA, for example, estimates that for every $1.00 spent on mitigation, $4.00 is saved. Protection of individual properties Property owners may fit their homes to stop water entering by blocking doors and air vents, waterproofing important areas and sandbagging the edges of the building. Flood mitigation at the property level may also involve preventative measures focused on the building site, including scour p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carbon Sequestration
Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in a carbon pool. Carbon dioxide () is naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological, chemical, and physical processes. These changes can be accelerated through changes in land use and agricultural practices, such as converting crop land into land for non-crop fast growing plants. Artificial processes have been devised to produce similar effects, including large-scale, artificial capture and sequestration of industrially produced using subsurface saline aquifers, reservoirs, ocean water, aging oil fields, or other carbon sinks, bio-energy with carbon capture and storage, biochar, enhanced weathering, direct air capture and water capture when combined with storage. Forests, kelp beds, and other forms of plant life absorb carbon dioxide from the air as they grow, and bind it into biomass. However, these biological stores are considered volatile carbon sinks as the long-term sequestration cannot be guaranteed. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Privatization
Water privatization is short for private sector participations in the provision of Water supply, water services and sanitation. Water privatization has a variable history in which its popularity and favorability has fluctuated in the market and politics. One of the common forms of privatization is public–private partnerships (PPPs).World Bank / Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory FacilitPublic-Private Partnerships for Urban Water Utilities: A Review of Experiences in Developing Countries by Philippe Marin, 2009, Overview, pp. 6-7. PPPs allow for a mix between public and private ownership and/or management of water and sanitation sources and infrastructure. Privatization, as proponents argue, may not only increase efficiency and service quality but also increase fiscal benefits. There are different forms of regulation in place for current privatization systems. Private sector participation in water supply and sanitation is controversial. Proponents of private sector participat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Conflict Between Ethiopia And Kenya
The water conflict between Ethiopia and Kenya is a development dispute due to the receding water resource along the border between Ethiopia and Kenya. Overview Ethiopia decided to build the Gilgel Gibe III Dam on the Omo River to provide hydropower electricity to Ethiopia as well as Egypt, Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda and Yemen. Considering rising temperatures, desertification and because the Omo is the main water source for several Ethiopian and Kenyan tribes, the dam could potentially cause violent conflict. Professor Aaron Wolf identified the problem's two major factors as:economic and population growth, and institutional capacity, or "human systems built to mitigate the change". In the border area between Ethiopia and Kenya, The Turkana of Kenya and the Dassanech, Nyangatom and Mursi of Ethiopia are tribes that depend on the Omo River and Lake Turkana to survive. In the past years the area became drier, with a hot climate and prolonged drought. Population growth aggravat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Supply And Sanitation In Kenya
Water supply and sanitation in Kenya is characterised by low levels of access to water and sanitation, in particular in urban slums and in rural areas, as well as poor service quality in the form of intermittent water supply.Water Service Quality – WASREB Impact Report 2009 pp.27–31. Retrieved 10 March 2010 Seasonal and regional water scarcity in Kenya exacerbates the difficulty to improve water supply. The Kenyan water sector underwent far-reaching reforms through the Water Act No. 8 of 2002. Previously service provision had been the responsibility of a single National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation as well as of a few local utilit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomson's Falls
Nyahururu Falls is a waterfall on the Ewaso Ng'iro river in Central Rift Valley Kenya, a few kilometres from Lake Ol Bolossat, which drains from the Aberdare Range. It is situated from the town of Nyahururu, at elevation. In 1883 Joseph Thomson was the first European to reach Thomson Falls, and named them for his father. Thomson wrote: Thomson was a Scottish geologist and naturalist who became the first European to walk from Mombasa to Lake Victoria in the early 1880s. The falls are a major economic resource for the adjacent town of Nyahururu. Most of the revenue is received from tourists, both international and domestic, who are charged at the gate. The falls appeared in the TV Movie ''The Man in the Brown Suit ''The Man in the Brown Suit'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by The Bodley Head on 22 August 1924 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The character Colo ...'' (1988). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Scarcity
Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water Water resources, resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is where there is not enough water to meet all demands, including that needed for ecosystems to function effectively. Desert climate, Arid areas for example Central and West Asia, and North Africa often suffer from physical water scarcity. On the other hand, economic water scarcity is caused by a lack of investment in infrastructure or technology to draw water from rivers, aquifers, or other water sources, or insufficient human capacity to satisfy the demand for water. Much of Sub-Saharan Africa has economic water scarcity. The essence of global water scarcity is the geographic and temporal mismatch between fresh water demand and availability. At the global level and on an annual basis, enough freshwater is available to meet such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
