- The recent drought has adversely affected water levels in the lake
- This has been worsened by massive abstraction in the catchment area
Image: GEORGE MURAGE
The National Water Resource Users Association (NAWARUA) has issued an alert to tens of families living along Lake Naivasha to relocate ahead of the predicted heavy rains from October.
The association noted that based on predictions by the weatherman, there was a possibility that water levels would rise sharply leading to flooding around the riparian land.
According to projections by the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre, the country would get heavy rains like those recorded in El Nino of 2006 and 1997.
Currently, water levels have dropped sharply due to the harsh weather conditions with investors farming and encroaching on the riparian land.
According to NAWARUA chairman Enock Kiminta, the weather predictions were worrying due to the high number of families currently on the riparian land.
Speaking during a tour of the water body, he said all families that were displaced in 2020 by the heavy rains had returned to their homes.
He added that there was an urgent need to engage all those on the riparian land to move out before the predicted rains started pounding the country.
“There are weather reports that the country will record heavy rains by October and we should engage all those on riparian land to move out,” he said on Monday in Naivasha.
Kiminta said when the lake levels rose three years ago, tens of families and organisations were left counting losses running into millions of shillings.
“Those who were affected by the rising water levels never learnt and they have returned to their homes which were submerged in water,” he said.
He at the same time decried the current situation around the lake where water levels have dropped sharply and logging has become the order of the day.
He said currently, River Malewa was the only one flowing into the lake as Rivers Gilgil and Karati had dried up due to the recent harsh weather conditions.
“Lake Naivasha relies heavily on water from River Malewa and currently the levels are low due to low rainfall and abstraction by farmers upstream,” he said.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Francis Muthui, the chairman, Friends of Lake Naivasha, who noted that the water body was under threat from all quarters even as water levels continued to drop by the day.
“As the water levels drop, we have seen small scale farmers and individuals encroach on the riparian land wiping out vegetation and displacing wild animals,” he said.