Kenya: Our Lakes Are in Great Peril

The Nation (Nairobi)

EDITORIAL
November 14, 2006
Posted to the web November 14, 2006

The imminent death of Lake Nakuru should serve as a wake-up call to Kenyans who have a healthy disrespect for the environment.

It's a crying shame that this world-famous tourist attraction with its millions of flamingoes should be reduced to a colourless ugly salt-pan. And there is no telling which lake will be next.

As for the rivers, already, many have either shrunk into small rivulets and streams, or dried up altogether. In this lot are the Athi, Njoro and Mara rivers, while those that still flow are so heavily polluted that they have become a health hazard.

As fate would have it, the alarm over Lake Nakuru has been raised at a time when Kenya is hosting the International Climate Change conference. It is our hope that the circumstances will drive the point home on the dangers of reckless disrespect for environmental conservation.

The media, and respected individuals like Prof Wangari Maathai, have over the years warned on what would befall our lakes and rivers if the wanton destruction of catchment areas was not stopped. The dumping of raw sewerage, garbage, industrial waste and other effluents into our lakes and rivers has also been repeatedly condemned.

Sadly, the Government has been agonisingly slow in enforcing laws to protect the environment, and has even, at times, initiated activities that spurred environmental degradation. The degazetting of forest lands and awarding them to individual developers is a case in point.

The Government has also failed to arrest and prosecute firms and individuals behind the destruction. Why, for instance, have the likes of Nakuru and Kisumu municipal councils, as well as the owners of industries responsible for the effluents discharged into lakes, not been prosecuted?

Kenyans must wake up to these dangers and demand an end to the destruction of their ecosystem and natural resources for the sake of future generations.

Another article on Lake Nakuru

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Kenya: Flamingoes Desert Dying Lake Nakuru

The Nation (Nairobi)

November 10, 2006
Posted to the web November 10, 2006

Lake Nakuru is drying up. People are now able to walk right across the floor of one of the most famous of the Rift Valley lakes.

The famous tourist destination and home to the spectacular nearly one million flamingoes, which have now fled the dry bowl, is finally suffering the effects of wanton destruction of its catchment areas in the Mau forest.

The same fate has befallen Lake Elmentaita about 35 kilometres away, which used to boast the only pelican breeding site in the Rift Valley.

According to Kenya Wildlife Service assistant regional director, Mrs Anne Kahihia, massive destruction of the forest cover in the catchment area over the past few years is responsible.

Several streams and rivers that used to supply the Rift Valley lakes, and others which water the Maasai Mara and flow southwards into neighbouring Tanzania, have been reduced to a mere trickle, setting the stage for a major ecological disaster.

A recent visit to Lake Nakuru by the Nation found people walking right in the middle of the dry lake, its bottom marked by thousands of nest moulds left behind by the departed flamingoes.

Lake Nakuru National Park is second only to the Maasai Mara in popularity as a tourist destination, attracting 200,000 visitors yearly, mostly pulled by the presence of nearly 1 million pink flamingoes. Only 30,000 flamingoes remain now and they are all expected to leave in the next few weeks

A Great Lake on its Death Bed - more explanation of what is happenng with Lake Nakuru

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A Great Lake On Its Death Bed

The Nation (Nairobi)
NEWS
November 10, 2006
Posted to the web November 10, 2006

By Michael Njuguna
Nairobi

More than 800,000 flamingoes have deserted the fast receding Lake Nakuru, while the remaining flock of about 30,000 could fly away in a matter of weeks.

The Nation this week found tourists walking in the middle of the dry lake, taking pictures of birds that are still chasing the remaining strips of water in search of food.

Thousands of nest-moulds built by mother flamingoes jut from the dry bed of the lake, telling the story of what would have been a successful breeding site but for lack of water.

A similar fate has befallen Lake Elmentaita, about 35 kilometres away. It used to host the only pelican breeding site in the Rift Valley.

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) assistant regional director, Mrs Anne Kahihia, says massive destruction of the lake's catchment area over the years has finally manifested itself. The precious lake of saline waters is on its death bed.

She said that owing to destruction of Mau Forest, many streams that used to recharge the lake have dried up and that the only source of water is Baharini Springs. Its supply, however, is too little to support the flamingo population that rises to about 1.4 million birds when food is abundant.

The lesser flamingoes - the dominant species at the lake - feed on blue-green algae (spirulina platensis) which thrive in the highly saline environment.

Pelicans estimated at about 2,000 feed on tilapia grahami fish that was introduced to the lake in the 60s to curb mosquito breeding.

Mrs Kahihia says River Njoro, for long the most reliable source of water for the lake, now supplies water for only two weeks during the long rains in April.

"The little water that was flowing to the lake was cut off by an avalanche of sand from quarries at Barut farm, a few kilometres away."

Attempts by the provincial administration to ban sand harvesting in the area have been largely unsuccessful. Boulders rolling from the quarries end up in the valley below, cutting of the stream's flow.

It is also suspected that River Njoro could be losing some of its water to earth fissures that traverse Barut area.

A report compiled a few years ago by Dr M.C Chemilil of Egerton University on the region's hydrology blamed deforestation and urbanisation for the recession of water.

Dr Chemilil said that a survey conducted through satellite imagery showed the land under agriculture increased from 21 per cent in 1970 to 58 per cent in the 90s, while that under urban use increased from 1.5 per cent to more than 10 per cent during that period.

Land under forest cover in the catchment area reduced from 78 per cent to 18 per cent.

Massive excision of more than 46,000 hectares to create room for human settlement in the Mau Forest aggravated the situation.

"Human activities, although widespread in Njoro, affect the entire district. The most recent example is encroachment of fragile semi-arid areas. Rongai, Solai, Gilgil and Naivasha are not spared, either," said Dr Chemilil.

He added that this had resulted in reduction of vegetation and subsequent land degradation.

Recession of underground water

Egerton University's Njoro campus, which hosts about 6,000 students, started experiencing a serious water shortage a few years ago when several boreholes dried up owing to rapid recession of underground water.

Egerton University neighbours some State forests that were excised in the mid-to-late 90s to make room for human settlements.

The KWS director, Dr Julius Kipng'etich, who visited Lake Nakuru recently, said that only repossession of Mau Forest by the Government can save Lake Nakuru and its fragile ecosystem. Dr Kipng'etich said KWS was lobbying for conversion of Mau Forest into a conservation area.

He said most of Kenya's other economic sectors had reached a plateau and only tourism promises a good source of revenue now and in future.

Currently, Lake Nakuru National Park, which has a successful rhino breeding sanctuary, is second only to the Maasai Mara in popularity as a tourist destination. On average, it has 200,000 visitors, both residents and foreigners, annually.

Its large numbers of herbivores is also in danger, owing to an overstretched land carrying capacity. The 188 square kilometre park has more than 420 species of birds and over 50 species of mammals.

Herbivores include over 3,000 buffaloes, about 2,000 impalas, hundreds of Rothschild giraffes, warthogs, water bucks, and about 100 rhinos. The latter include white ones donated to Kenya by South Africa in the mid 80s.

Overgrazing has also resulted in loss of pasture as invasive plants that are not edible colonise large parts of the park.

With the Njoro, Makalia and Nderit rivers drying up, the only source of water is Baharini Springs. These, too, are threatened by intensive farming in Bahati division.

The KWS might not be able to meet the cost of watering the wildlife once all the sources dry up.

Mrs Kahihia said she was liaising with the relevant authorities with a view to dredging the blocked sections of River Njoro so that the little trickle could find its way into the lake.

She said that open storm water drainage channels posed a serious threat to wildlife in the park because of the huge amount of solid waste swept in from the town during the wet season.

Water quality in the lake improved significantly in the 90s after Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) rehabilitated the town's main sewage treatment plant at a cost of over Sh800 million.

The project included construction of a water quality testing laboratory near the Nakuru KWS Education Centre.

The KWS is now working closely with the Nakuru council to rehabilitate the old sewage treatment plant near Kivumbini estate.

Massive deaths of flamingoes occurred in Lake Nakuru in August when the otherwise peregrine birds started flying to the fresh water Lake Naivasha, about 70 kilometres away.

Mrs Kahihis said that large flocks had settled at Oloiden and Crater Lake in Naivasha. Others have taken over several beaches on the lake.