Stream Flow Responses to Land Use/ Land Cover Changes in Kimondi Watershed, Yala River Basin, Nandi County, Kenya

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dc.contributor.authorShikuku, Evans Tsabuko
dc.contributor.authorMurimi, Shadrack
dc.contributor.authorMacharia, Anthony
dc.date.accessioned2023-05-23T13:59:54Z
dc.date.available2023-05-23T13:59:54Z
dc.date.issued2010
dc.descriptionArticleen_US
dc.description.abstractThe global terrestrial land surface has been affected by the changing land cover/land use over years. The continuous changes in land cover/land use have also affected the water balance of major watershed by changing the magnitude and pattern of the stream flow of major rivers in Kenya. Land use and land cover changes in Kimondi watershed has caused serious hydrological changes on Kimondi River thereby affecting the entire hydrological regime of the whole of Yala Basin. The study was necessary to evaluate the stream flow responses to land use/land cover changes in the upstream of Yala River.These findings provides invaluable insights to the Yala watershed conservationists, the Nandi county and the government of Kenya in conserving the water resources, monitoring of watershed conservation and ensuring environmental sustainability. This is will provide effective upstream response measures in ensuring reduced magnitudes and frequency in surface runoff and increased groundwater recharge in Kimondi watershed. The extent of land use and land cover changes in the watershed was examined through analysis and classification of SPOT images using ENVI 5.3. Descriptive analysis of data collected from KII and questionnaires was done using SPSS and Ms Excel. The evaluation of variations and responses in river flow and rainfall was done using linear regression and correlation methods. Weibull’s method was used in the analysis of extreme (MaxQ and MinQ) hydrological data as well as determine the return periods. The Flow Duration Curve examined the historical variability of observed stream flow. The study revealed that there were major land use and land cover changes in Kimondi watershed such as uncontrolled human encroachment in King’wal wetland due to search of land for agriculture and settlement, decrease in natural forests, and increase in growth of eucalyptus as well as rainfall variability. The study revealed an increase in agricultural area (4.8%), bare ground (3.97%), settlement (12.46%), planted forest (9.59%) and shrubs (1.66%), and decrease in area under natural forest (28.94%) and shrinking in size of King’wal Swamp (3.63%). Trend analysis of the hydrographs revealed, for annual and monthly daily stream flows, as statistically significant at p-value ≤ 0.05 with monotonic trend. Trends and variations in river flow indicated periods of low dry season flows and peak wet season flows between the 1990 and 2015 mainly attributed to both land use/land cover changes and climate variability. The Flow Duration Curve revealed an 11.3% exceedance for Q25 and 0.74% exceedance for Q95. Weibull’s analysis showed a 1.8% and 2% return period in 53 years for maximum discharges and minimum discharges respectively.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2222-2863
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/25405
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherwww.iiste.orgen_US
dc.subjectLand useen_US
dc.subjectLand coveren_US
dc.subjectStream flowen_US
dc.subjectClimate variabilityen_US
dc.subjectFlow duration curvesen_US
dc.subjectReturn perioden_US
dc.subjectLow flowsen_US
dc.subjectPeak flowsen_US
dc.titleStream Flow Responses to Land Use/ Land Cover Changes in Kimondi Watershed, Yala River Basin, Nandi County, Kenyaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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