Fears of Bomet turning into a dryland as rivers shrink

Once upon a time rivers in Bomet majestically roared striking their banks as they beautifully snaked their way to Lake Victoria in the Western parts of Kenya. 

 Around the ridges that are common in the county, the springs flowed without bother into tributaries that formed large rivers such as Kipsonoi, Nyangores, Chemosit and Amalo.

 In their heyday these rivers that trace their sources to the nearby Mau Forest ecosystem cut across the county with gusto, most of the times causing trouble during the heavy rainy seasons when they broke their banks forcing those living near them to scamper to higher grounds for their own safety.

 The water falls that appeared along their paths formed beautiful sceneries that attracted local and foreign tourists.

 Nowadays, however, the water levels have receded so painfully the rivers silently murmur all the way, seemingly avoiding the big rocks lining their banks as if they fear stumbling and fail to reach their destination in Lake Victoria.

 The water levels have dropped so much that sections of the river banks have been turned into farms by some of the opportunistic residents who are keen to exploit freely available pieces of land for their crops. 

Climate change

 With the world staring at significant impact from climate change, it is difficult to separate the situation in Bomet from what local and global climate change enthusiasts and environmentalists have warned about.

 In Bomet, however, it is not about warnings and calls to action, it is about real fears, about what could befall the local community if the rivers they have attached their whole lives to for ages, dried forever.

 For Kipkirui Arap Sigei, an elder who hails from Mulot Sunset, a town within Bomet remembers vividly how terrifying River Amalo, that passes through Mulot Sunset town, was during the rainy seasons just two decades ago. “One had to literally swim across Amalo river to reach Narok or Bomet side of the border in the 1980s due to the high-water levels then. But now, the water levels have reduced so drastically that a nursery school child can literally jump through the exposed rocks on the riverbed and cross the river without any fear. It is quite sad, “ Sigei said.

 Sigei said in the 1980s, it was impossible to cross the river anytime of the year unless one did so via one of the main bridges. There were also make-shift bridges that came to the aid of many.

 Crocodiles and hippos were also a common sight in the lower part of the river which empties into Mara River. 

  Sigei said the river and its tributaries broke its banks during the rainy season and many people drowned as they attempted to get to the other side, especially due to drunkenness, but not any longer.

 The animals that populated the river are now a thing of the past.  “If the government and local community will not take rehabilitation and conservation of these rivers seriously, then in the next 20 years the rivers will dry up completely causing a humanitarian crisis and serious conflicts,” Sigei warned.

  In Bomet, for instance, the county has witnessed reduced rainfall the last 20 years and almost a total change in rain patterns over the same period.

Years back, heavy rains were witnessed between March and June and another lighter season towards the end of the year. Nowadays, the rains are not as consistent as before, falling infrequently throughout the year. Presently, it is difficult to separate a rainy season from any other periods in a year.

 A report by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

last year indicated that most rivers in Africa had “below-normal discharge in 2021.”

 The drop in the water volumes stretched across the continent affecting such large rivers as the Niger, Volta, Nile and Congo. 

 “The impacts of climate change are often felt through water – more intense

and frequent droughts, more extreme flooding, more erratic seasonal rainfall and accelerated melting of glaciers – with cascading effects on economies, ecosystems and all aspects of our daily lives”, said WMO Secretary-General Prof Petteri Taalas.

If there was no intervention to stop the trend, WMO has warned that over 5 billion people worldwide would lack water by 2050.

In Bomet, it is a similar concern as residents search for causes of the phenomenon they are yet to get used to. 

Paul Rono, the secretary of the Mara River Water Resource Users Association Forum, said unchecked human activities upstream and illegal logging could be the cause of the receding volumes the last 20 years.

  Bomet is the home of many of the tributaries supplying water to Mara River, the main source of water in the Mara Ecosystem that entails Maasai Mara national reserve among other key environmental bodies within the area.

 The forum was formed to try to salvage a situation that appears to be getting out of hand. It brings together 24 associations from Nakuru, Narok, Kericho and Bomet counties and seeks to reverse environmental degradation, rehabilitate streams and rivers in the region.  “Despite National Environmental Management Agency (NEMA) laws and the Water Act being in place, pollution of rivers continues unabated especially with the mushrooming of car wash centres, Rono said.

Public outcry

 Locals have linked the widespread planting of eucalyptus along river banks to the reduction of water although there are no scientific studies yet connecting the trees to this worrying situation. 

 Following a public outcry over the eucalyptus and assumed role in shrinking of rivers, the Kenya Forest Service issued detailed guidelines on the handling of the trees.

 In the Kenya Forest Service Guide to On-Farm Eucalyptus Growing in Kenya, the institution said there was nothing conclusive on the trees’ role in reduced volumes of water in local rivers despite growing assumptions they were part of the problem.

 “These claims have not been conclusively supported by scientific evidence. However, studies have established that Eucalypts exhibit high efficiency in water use for biomass accumulation. For example, it has been established that eucalyptus requires less water to produce one Kg of biomass than most crops,” KFS indicates in the Guide.