The Ewaso Nyiro River, also called Ewaso Nyiro, is a vital river in Kenya. Rising on the west side of Mount Kenya, it flows north, then east, and finally southeast, eventually passing through Somalia where it joins the Jubba River.
The name "Ewaso Ng'iro" is derived from the Maasai language, meaning "river of brown or muddy water."
The river's name is derived from the local community's Maasai language, and means river of brown or muddy water.
It is characterized by vastly different physiographic features and species and has become a fundamental component to the survival of the wildlife, as well as the expansion of the human population and socio-economic developments.
The river draws wildlife in great numbers to its banks, creating an oasis of green.
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Samburu, Shaba and Buffalo Springs National Reserves in Northern Kenya teem with wildlife in an otherwise arid land, because of the water of the river.
Below Saricho, the river expands into the Lorian Swamp, a large area of wetlands.
Ewaso Narok River is one of its tributaries.
The ecological diversity throughout the catchment is unique to the Ewaso Ng’iro watershed specifically, as it originates from the high agriculturally potent lands of Mount Kenya, right at Thome Area of Nanyuki-Laikipia County, that means the exact start point of this river is at the Thome village where it is formed out of convergence of Naromoru River, sourcing water from Mt. Kenya, and Ngarinyiru River sourcing water from Aberdares and it flows over the following seven arid to semi-arid land districts of Meru, Laikipia, Samburu, Isiolo, Wajir, Marsabit, and Garissa (Said et al. 14).
Following the independence of Kenya, the stretches of land covered by the Ewaso Ng’iro watershed shifted ownership from the colonial farmers to small-scale farmers (Thenya et al. 2).
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The catchment became a main resource for the small-scale farmers to support their agropastorial practices and developing livelihoods (Thenya et al.
Ewaso Ngiro River in Shaba National Reserve
The Importance of the Ewaso Ng'iro Watershed
The Upper Ewaso Ngiro basin covers an area of over 15,000 square kilometers and its varied ecosystems support not only people and their animals, but a rich array of wildlife.
The wetland ecosystems which are located in the higher regions of Mount Kenya provide a natural water filtration system, a variety of plant and animal species, and nutrients for all other species and ecosystems (Said et al. 8).
Agro-ecosystems are common in developments in the higher regions of the Ewaso Ng’iro watershed and contribute the forage necessary to sustain wildlife, livestock, as well as human populations (Said et al. 8).
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By supporting and sustaining all the different ecosystems throughout the Ewaso Ng’iro watershed, it will allow for the environment to flourish as naturally as possible.
The importance of sustaining the ecosystems that are supported by the Ewaso Ng’iro watershed are crucial for the established populations on both a personal and developmental level.
Ewaso Ngiro Ecosystem
Challenges Facing the River
"Kenya’s renewable supply of fresh water is less than 650 cubic meters per capita per year, making it one of the most water-scarce countries in the world" states the African Development Fund (African Development Fund 6).
Although the Ewaso Ng’iro is the largest of five water catchments in Kenya, a shortage in natural resource availability has become prevalent ever so increasingly in the past few years (Said et al.
The tributaries that drain into the catchment have progressively began to dry up, particularly throughout the dry seasons of the year (Mutiga, Su, and Woldai 102).
Other changes such as "unreliable rainfall patterns and quantities and decreasing discharge during the low flow periods" also have significant impacts on all aspects of the Ewaso Ng’iro watershed (Aeschbacher, Liniger and Weingartner 155,156).
The water catchment lies predominantly through arid to semi arid landscapes where the annual levels of rainfall and precipitation have seemingly decreased over the years (Mutiga, Su, and Woldai 102).
Due to the recent population influx, Kenya's wetlands have deteriorated, and establishments have become a major hindrance to the ecosystem services (Thenya et al.
A large percentage of water is used by the upper regions of the catchment for irrigation of crops that contributes to the sustainability of "current and future degradation of ecosystems that affect the livelihoods and sustainability […] and long term efforts to reduce poverty (Payet and Obura 24).
The over exploitation of natural resource in the upper regions of the catchment are increasingly making development process and agricultural practices more difficult for those situated near the lower regions (Mutiga, Su, and Woldai 102).
Due to the arid to semi arid landscapes which surround the Ewaso Ng’iro watershed, levels of availability to access and utilize the water decrease as the demand for human consumption and agricultural systems increase (Said et al. 14).
Populations situated near the higher regions of the catchment have much greater availability to the natural resource, and have utilized them for agropastorial purposes.
However, when these practices are paired up with Kenya's arid to semi arid landscape climatic changes, the downstream population's access to the natural resource has become much more limited (Weismann et al. 12).
Those situated in the lower regions of the Ewaso Ng’iro watershed have faced unremitting pressure to access the natural resource to continue to sustain their growing human population and developments (Kiteme and Gikonyo 332).
The balance of life in the ecosystem is threatened by agricultural development in the highlands around Mount Kenya, particularly more intensive, irrigated farming for export crops, such as flowers.
The forest, which plays an important role in regulating and filtering the inflow to the river, is under threat from logging and land clearance for farming.
Destruction would increase sediment loads in the river and cause greater seasonal variance in the volume of water.
Mount Kenya and surrounding farmlands
The Proposed Mega-Dam and Its Impact
Flowing through Archer’s Post, the Ewaso Ngiro River, the only major river in northern Kenya that can generally be depended upon to flow year round, is threatened by a new round of “development,” as the Kenyan government implements its Vision 2030.
Kenya’s Vision 2030 plan, on the one hand, does place an emphasis on how to develop stronger and more dependable water resources for a country that is classified as 80 percent arid or semiarid lands.
Nonetheless, there is a huge question mark, highlighted by the pastoralists protesting one of the flagship developments of the 2030 plan, regarding whether the construction of the mega-dam at Oldinyiro will increase climate resiliency or damage it.
At a cost of 10 billion Kenyan shillings (US $103 million), the dam will submerge 13,000 hectares (more than 32,000 acres) of land under the resulting lake, as well as five nature conservancies.
Assuming there is no drought, it will take more than 10 months to fill the lake once the dam has been completed, which will mean not only lots of people losing the land where they currently live (in addition to land that’s already been commandeered by the Kenyan and British military and into private land trusts as nature conservancies), but also people being subjected to even more severe water shortages from the river as the lake is filled.
The proposed mega-dam will undoubtedly worsen these grave threats.
The camel caravan raised issues pertaining to the negative consequences of the dam on the population in areas around Merit and other settlements.
I think they have a legitimate concern, which I equally share.
However I have yet to see any report on the environmental impact assessment.
Journey of Water Kenya - Ewaso Nyiro River
Community Efforts and Protests
Harkening back to that earlier period of colonial resistance and unity, in August 2014, Archer’s Post was the scene for something much more hopeful, as the A2 was crowded with hundreds of singing, marching and protesting members of three different tribes, complete with some of their camels.
The second annual Camel Caravan for Climate Change Adaptation was a joint production of members of the Samburu, Borana and Turkana tribes, who are among those, along with the Rendile, Somali and Maasai communities, who will be directly affected by upstream changes to water flow caused by the proposed dam.
Various nongovernmental organizations, such as Cordaid and Wetlands International, are supporting pastoralist communities in their attempt to have some say in the dam proposals.
The camel caravan was consciously organized to bring together members of different communities and tribes in order to show a united front against the dam, and show that a history of sporadic violence between different groups can be overcome through political organizing around a common demand.
To emphasize this, one of the main songs sung on the march was a melded mixture of Burana and Samburu languages.
One of the march organizers, a member of the District Peace Committee in Isiolo County, Dabaso Halkano, spoke while marching: “We have power, even though we are poor - people power, and that makes us strong.
That is why we are demonstrating.
They talk of resilience.
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