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VOICES FOR WETLANDS AND WATER: CASE STUDIES ON WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT & WASH IN KENYA
Entasopia: Oasis between Wilderness and a Salty Lake
The Entasopia and Oloibortoto rivers water the springs of Nguruman in a 50-kilometre escarpment stretching close to the north- western corner of Lake Natron in Tanzania. Green and thick with indigenous trees, fruit trees, vegetation and farmland, Nguruman is a bustling, multi-ethnic community of fisherfolk, and fruit and vegetable farmers and traders. But from a primary water user’s perspective, this oasis lies in a complex basin. The farming community of Nguruman lives midstream and has no control over human activities on the catchment in the lush Loita Hills and Narok from where the two rivers flow. Up and over the escarpment, commercial farms need water for irrigation, while downstream, the arid land is dedicated to pasture for livestock whose survival is determined by how the Nguruman community manages water. In the middle stands the giant Tata Chemicals Magadi, Africa’s largest soda ash producer and biggest water consumer in Kajiado County. The company is located at Lake Magadi, a salty lake and breeding site for lesser flamingos. Entasopia WRUA Secretary Moses Lemunge worries that human population growth and lifestyle change from pastoralism to irrigated farming is exerting undue pressure on scarce
water resources; that droughts and floods are becoming more frequent because of climate change. The floods rip up pipes that distribute water to farms and cause massive erosion of the river banks, sweeping away trees that have protected the rivers for decades. The springs are in dire need of fencing to limit destruction from human activities and reduce conflicts arising from abuse of the resource. River banks that are eroded need to be rehabilitated, and damaged water distribution pipes and boxes repaired. Unfortunately, Entasopia WRUA is not in close ties with Tata Chemicals Magadi who, coincidentally, are members of the WRUA. Shunned by upstream large commercial farms that are not members despite being heavy water users, the WRUA is underfunded and incapable of protecting water resources in this basin. Consequently, regulations are not enforced. Water volumes have been decreasing substantially over the years, with the permanent Ewaso Ng’iro River, which rises from the Mau Escarpment, drying up completely in 2018. Entasopia WRUA Chairman and community elder, Kipas Minchor, says he has never seen this before. “We fear that, at one point in future, we might not have water in this place,” says Minchor.
Lesser flamingos in Lake Magadi
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