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Mapping and Characterising Water Points in Mbeti South Location, Mbeere District

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Mapping and Characterising Water Points in Mbeti South Location, Mbeere District MAPPING AND CHARACTERISING WATER POINTS IN MBETI SOUTH LOCATION, MBEERE DISTRICT IEA Research Paper Series No. 21 April 2009 Published by: INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS 5th Floor, ACK Garden House 1st Ngong Avenue P.O. Box 53989 Nairobi- 00200 Tel: 254-20-2717402, 2721262 Fax: 254-20-2716231 Email: [email protected] Written by: Zacchaeus Kinuthia, David Warui and Francis Karanja of Centre for Training & Integrated Research in ASAL Development (CETRAD) P.O. Box 144 Nanyuki 10400 Tel: 062-31328; Fax: 062-31323 E-mail: [email protected] With the support of Heinrich Boll Foundation (HBF) Institute of Economic Affairs, 2009 First Published in 2009 ISBN: 978-9966-7183-8-9 Institute of Economic Affairs 2 Table of Content Acknowledgement .......................................................................................................................7 Executive Summary .....................................................................................................................8 Abbreviations and Acronyms ....................................................................................................12 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................13 1.1. Water resources in Kenya: An overview .........................................................................13 1.2. The Tana River Drainage Basin ......................................................................................15 1.3. Mbeere District ..............................................................................................................15 1.3.1. Geographic Location & Topography ..........................................................................15 1.3.2. Rainfall Patterns & Temperatures ..............................................................................16 1.3.3. Natural Resources and Land uses ...............................................................................17 1.3.4. Demographic and Poverty Characteristics ..................................................................17 1.3.5. Livelihood Systems .....................................................................................................18 1.3.6. Selection of Study Site ................................................................................................19 1.4. Water Development in Mbeere district ..........................................................................19 1.5. Objective and Scope of the Mapping Exercise ................................................................21 1.6. The implementing Team ................................................................................................23 1.7. Methodologies, Tools and Activities ...............................................................................23 1.7.1. Inception Phase ..........................................................................................................23 1.7.2. Preparatory Phase .......................................................................................................23 1.7.3. Field Data Collection .................................................................................................24 1.7.4. Analysis and Generation of Outputs ..........................................................................24 1.8. Layout of the Report ......................................................................................................24 2. Spatial Distribution of Water Points in the Location ........................................................25 3. Characterisation of Water Points and Sewerage Systems ...................................................37 3.1. Types of Water Points in Mbeti South Location ............................................................37 3.2. Status and Year of Establishment ...................................................................................38 3.3. Registration and metering of water points ......................................................................39 3.4. Mode of abstraction and amounts abstracted .................................................................39 3.5. Ownership and Gender Aspects .....................................................................................41 3.6. Location and its Influence on Access to Water ..............................................................43 3.7. Distances to Water Points ..............................................................................................45 3.8. Water Sources, Availability and Point of Collection ......................................................45 Institute of Economic Affairs 3 3.9. Depth and Capacity of Water Points ..............................................................................47 3.10. Water Uses and Cost Implications .............................................................................47 3.11. Sewerage Situation in the Location .............................................................................50 4. Operational status, Funding and Management ..................................................................52 4.1. Operational Status .........................................................................................................52 4.2. Funding Water Projects and the Role of Community ....................................................53 4.3. Management of Water Points .........................................................................................53 5. Water Standards, Protection and Challenges .....................................................................56 5.1. Water Standards and Protection of Water Points ..........................................................56 5.2. Challenges and Threats ..................................................................................................56 6. Synthesis and Policy Implications ......................................................................................58 6.1. Spatial Distribution of Water Points ..............................................................................58 6.2. Characteristics of Water Points ......................................................................................58 6.3. Water Supply, Costs and Funding ..................................................................................60 6.4. Management & Protection .............................................................................................61 7. Conclusions and Recommendations .................................................................................62 References .................................................................................................................................64 Appendices ................................................................................................................................66 Appendix 1: Questionnaire Used to Collect Attribute Information .........................................66 Appendix 2: Photographs showing the water points and their conditions ................................69 Appendix 3: Attributes information for the water points ..........................................................70 Institute of Economic Affairs 4 List of Tables Table 1: Major River Basins and Their Potential (Nema, 2003)..................................................13 Table 2: The 1999 Demographic Characteristics in the Four Divisions .....................................17 Table 3: Agro- Climatic Zones of Mbeere......................................................................................18 Table 4: Population By Sex, Households, Area And Density for Mbeti South Location............25 Table 5: Status of Water Points .....................................................................................................38 Table 6: Categorization of Abstraction Methods with Types of Water Points ............................40 Table 7: Summary of Water Quantities Abstracted from the Water Points................................41 Table 8: Gender Perspective in Private Owned Water Points......................................................43 Table 9: Location of Mapped Water Points..................................................................................43 Table 10: Sources of Water for the Water Points.........................................................................45 Table 11: Water Availability by Time of Spot Check ...................................................................46 Table 12: Depth Statistics For Wells, Boreholes And Water Holes.............................................47 Table 13: Estimated Storage Capacity of Tanks and Dams..........................................................47 Table 14: Initial and Current Water Uses in the Location..........................................................48 Table 15: Estimated Households Using the Water Points ...........................................................48 Table 16: Proportion of Population Accessing Water ..................................................................49 Table 17: Population Proportion Benefiting from the Water Points ..........................................49 Table 18: Water Uses for Livestock Watering and Irrigation ......................................................50 Table 19: Operational Status for the Various Categories of Water Points..................................52 Table 20: Sources of Funding for the Water Points .....................................................................53
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