WATER RESOURCES USERS' ASSOCIATIONS

1. A collaborative project by:
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
Water Resources Management Authority(Tana Region)
University of the Sunshine Coast of Australia
Names of project collaborators:
1. John Ng’ang’a G…….. WRMA/JKUAT
2. Prof. Bancy Mati ………JKUAT
3. Mr. S. Wangombe……..WRMA-TANA
4. Mr. Robinson Kimari …WRMA-TANA
April 20, 2016 1

2. The Tana Basin
 The Tana basin covers
an area of 126,026
km2_ which is about
20% of the land area of
Kenya.
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3.  The Tana River is the biggest and longest river in the country,
traversing 1,012 km from its source on both the Nyandarua
Range (3,990 m) and the Mt. Kenya (5,199 m above sea level)
to the Indian Ocean near Kipini.
 Its tributaries emanate from Mt. Kenya, the Aberdares and the
Nyambene Hills forming a dendritic drainage system.
 The basin is divided into three;
 The Upper Tana,
 Middle-Tana an
 Lower Tana.
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4.  The upper Tana provides water for small agricultural holdings
and supplies Nairobi's water supply and hydroelectricity
through 4 dams.
 The middle provides water to small communities and cattle in
a semi-arid area, while,
 The lower Tana meets the coast near Lamu which currently
accesses water from dunal aquifers.
 A key issue is to ensure that river water meets human needs
from the upstream to downstream of the catchment while
maintaining environmental flows.
April 20, 2016 4

5.  As water scarcity has increased globally, water allocation plans
and agreements have taken on increasing significance in
resolving local, regional and international conflicts over access
to water.
 Water resources are faced with a lot of challenges that include
growth in water abstractions
growth and change in the economy, leading to a
wider variety of water users with different water
demands
decline of freshwater availability
in recent times, climate change
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6.  In response to these and other challenges, water allocation planning
now focuses more on optimizing use existing water resources. This is
coupled with a shift away from the traditional emphasis on the
construction of new infrastructure to meet rising demand, and instead
to the adoption of demand management measures.
 A major constraint for the preparation of environmental flow
estimations has been lack of long-term flow data throughout the basin,
which suggests that a risk-based approach to water allocation might be
necessary.
 A Sub Catchment Management Plan (SCMP) and Water Allocation
Plan (WAP) have already been prepared for some sub-catchment of the
Tana River. Other Sub-catchments are yet to be assessed to facilitate
the preparation of the WAP. This project, which targets Thika sub-
catchment, is designed for that purpose.
April 20, 2016 6

7. To determine;
 The status of WRUAs and other community-based groups
working on water issues in the Thika sub-catchment and how
they operate.
 Appropriate principles and guidelines for WRUA’s planning
and management.
 Extent to which the WRUAs have implemented their plans.
 Existing data that is available to inform water allocation
planning in the sub-catchment.
April 20, 2016 7

8.  The scoping study was designed to collect data through
stakeholder interviews, desktop studies and other sources to
review and document the status of Water Resources Users
Associations (WRUAs) in the Thika sub-Catchment of Tana
Basin.
 The outcomes of the assessment will then be used as a
baseline in designing the Water Allocation Plan of the Thika
Sub-Catchment.
April 20, 2016 8

9.  Definitions
1. Water allocation plan (WAP) -is a legal document that sets out
the rules for managing the take and use of prescribed water
resources to ensure resource sustainability. It is developed with the
community, industry and key stakeholders for each water resource
identified as being significant.
 It sets out how much water is available from a particular
resource or area, how much water needs to be left in the
system and what conditions will be applied to licenses in the
local area.
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10.  Equity: allocating water in a way that is fair and equitable
amongst different users.
 Environmental protection: enhances environmental flows and
protects key freshwater services.
 Development priorities: allocating water in a way that supports
and promotes economic and social development
 Balancing supply and demand
 Promoting efficient use of water
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11. There are six stages in the development of a WAP:
 A concept statement is developed that outlines the proposed
content of the WAP.
 The stakeholders are given an opportunities to help make
decisions about the content of the concept statement.
 Based on the decisions made about the concept statement, a
draft WAP is prepared.
 The stakeholders are again part of the decision making
regarding the draft WAP.
 Based on the decisions made about the draft WAP, a final
WAP is then developed.
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12.  The adopted WAP is reviewed within 10 years to ensure it
still meet the needs of the environment and the community.
2. The sub-catchment Management Plan (SCMP) is a plan which
is developed by WRUAs in collaboration with WRMA and
other stakeholders. It reflects a set of activities designed to meet
identified objectives to address the WRM problems within the
sub-catchment.
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13.  SCMP development
April 20, 2016 13
SCMPs
potential
SCMPs developed
2011-2012 Cumulative
Catchment area
No. No. % (dev-
potential)
No. % (dev-potential)
LVN
106 27 25 64 60
LVS
137 7 5 19 14
RV
32 58
Athi
299 28 9 61 20
Tana
254 11 4.3 57 22.4
ENN
296 10 1 32 3
Total
1530 104 7 234 15

14. 3. A Water Resources Users Association (WRUA) - is an
association of water resource users, riparian land owners and
other stakeholders who have formally and voluntarily associated
for the purposes of cooperatively sharing a common water
resource.
Functions of a WRUA:
 Promote controlled and legal water use activities.
 Promote good management practices to make efficient and
sustainable use of the water resource.
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15.  Promote water conservation practices to ensure sufficient water
reserves that meet the demands of the environment, the
wildlife, the livestock and all the communities who rely on the
water resource.
 To work towards reducing conflict in use of the water resource
and participate in solving those that arise.
 Promote catchment conservation measures to improve water
quantities and quality.
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16.  Leadership. Strong leaders are able to promote the WRUA both
internally and externally.
 Participation - need to understand and be willing to participate in
catchment management at all levels.
 Clarity of roles. Should have clearly defined roles and
responsibilities
 Autonomy - need the authority and ability to make independent
decisions, collect and manage sufficient resources & resolve
conflicts
 Accountability& transparency - should be accountable and
transparent to its members in all manner of its operation.
April 20, 2016 16

17.  Based on IWRM approach by WRMA, Thika River Basin has
been delineated into 11 WRUA managed sub catchments
 Out of this 11, there are seven operational WRUAs namely:
Sasumua, Kiama, Thika Upper, Thika-mid, Thika Lower,
Ekalakala and Lower Chania. The rest are proposed for
operationalization and include; Mayambogo, Kabuku, Ngoliba
and Maboko.
 Following is a map of the sub-catchment;
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18. April 20, 2016 18

19.  Each of these WRUAs covers an area over 100Km2. Sasumua,
Thika-Mid, Lower Chania and Ekalakala WRUAs have
developed their Sub-catchment management plan (SCMP).
 Sasumua and Thika-Mid has shown progress in terms of
implementing the plans.
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20. April 20, 2016 20

21. April 20, 2016 21

22. April 20, 2016 22

23.  Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA),
 Kenya Electricity Generating company (KenGen),
 Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company,
 National Irrigation Board, and
 Large scale firms such as Del Monte, Kakuzi, several flower
farms and various other water service providers.
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24. April 20, 2016 24

25.  Mean annual rainfall: 200mm in Lower Tana – 2400mm in Upper
Tana.
 Total annual renewable water = 17529MCM/yr of which,
SW=5858MCM/yr (33%) and GW=11671MCM/yr(67%)
 Combined per capita water= 2540m3 which is more than the global
benchmark of 1000m3. Thus the area has “moderate problems” as
far water resources are concerned.
 However, if only SW is considered, then the per capita water is
849m3 implying a chronic water scarcity.
 Most people depend on SW including the major abstractor implying
that water problems are driven more by SW and not GW
April 20, 2016 25

26. Surface water Groundwater
Catchment
area
Target Number
stations
collecting
data 4x/yr
% achieved Target Operational
and
collection
data
% achieved
LVN 36 17 47 14 14 100
LVS 30 30 100 17 11 65
RV 28 22 79 41 22 54
Athi 31 0 0 24 0 0
Tana 92 52 56.5 41 12 29
ENN 40 ? 15 ?
Total 165 69 42 111 47 42
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27. April 20, 2016 27
0
10
20
30
40
50
1946
1951
1956
1961
1966
1971
1976
1981
1986
1991
1996
2001
2006
2011
Maragua- Mean Discharge
4BE01_Maragu
a- Mean
Discharge

28. Water
resources
Total
wetlands
identified
Target 2011 -
2012
Protected
before
2011
Protected
2011-
2012
Total
protected
Achievement
(%)
Wetlands 293 10 13 1 14 5
Springs 349 11 15 8 23 6.5
GW recharges
areas
2 2 1 0 1 50
Riparian zones 1300 100 99 363 462 36
Eroded and
sensitive lands
296 10 13 1 14 5
April 20, 2016 28

29.  Deforestation
 Encroachment of riparian land
 Siltation of water bodies
 Water scarcity
 Inadequate water infrastructure
 Water erosion and pollution
 Quarrying
 River obstruction and illegal water abstractions and over abstraction
 Water related conflicts
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30. April 20, 2016 30

31. April 20, 2016 31

32. Increased water conflicts due to obstruction or overabstraction
Reduced water levels and siltation of dams thus reduced water
supply and storage
Increased soil erosion and landslides thus results in high costs
of agricultural inputs or even death in case of landslides
Decline in aquatic life due to high pollution and
sedimentation
Increased costs of water treatment and high incidences of
waterborne diseases
April 20, 2016 32

33.  Water availability in the sub-catchments has been on the
decline over the years. This has been caused primarily by
unmatched population growth to the water available.
 The increasing demand for water resources contributes to an
increase in conflicts in water utilization due to competing
interests.
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34.  There has also been poor data collection due to low priority in
data acquisition and management. Reliable data enables
development of information needed for planning, development
and management of water resources.
 Environmental degradation has been increasing, the rivers are
polluted and the dams are silting up very fast. High sediment
loads of between 1,000 and 5,000t km-2 yr-1 have been
documented at major gauging stations. This can be attributed
to the changes in land use and land cover.
April 20, 2016 34

35.  No one-stop shop database of all stakeholders, activities done,
achievements and challenges in TCA.
 The WRUAs seem to concentrate more on livelihood projects
other than their core function of protecting and conserving the
catchment. These need to go hand-in- hand.
 Capacity building for the WRUA members is not sufficient.
 Geo-referenced database of all major water infrastructure in
the catchment
April 20, 2016 35

36.  Ground water exploration and use has attracted little attention
 Role of science and technology in water resources
management is grossly underplayed.
 Coordinated monitoring & evaluation –basin-wide and also
carrying out an abstraction survey in the entire catchment
April 20, 2016 36

37.  Training and capacity building – this includes training on land and
water use, basic practical conservation and management skills and
also to facilitate exchange visits amongst stakeholders.
 Installation of river gauging stations along all major rivers. This will
enhance data collection and also help in monitoring and evaluation
 Carry out an abstraction and pollution survey
 Community mobilization
 Identify a balance between WRUAs, county and National government
 Strengthening links with research institutions and other stakeholders
April 20, 2016 37

38.  From the study much need to be done as far as water resources
utilization and management is concerned.
 Ground water has not been fully exploited…..SW and GW
constitutes 33% and 67% respectively.
 In upper Tana only 2 WRUAs have shown progress in SCMP
implementation. One of which has done an abstraction survey.
 Only one abstraction survey has been done that can be relied
during WAP development
April 20, 2016 38

39. 1. Knoop L., Sambalino F., Steenbergen F., 2012. Securing
Water and Land in the Tana Basin: a resource book for
water managers and practitioners. The Netherlands: 3R
water. Pp8-22.
2. Water Resources Management Authority, 2012. Strategic
plan 2012-2017.
3. Sub –Catchment Management Plan for the WRUAs.
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40. April 20, 2016 40

41. Thank you!
April 20, 2016 41