Assessment of Land Use Changes and Its Effect on Stream Discharge in Nanyuki River Watershed

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Cartography, Geographic Information Science and Geodesy, grade: A, , course: Land Resource Planning and Management, language: English, abstract: Kenya is endowed with an array of internal wetlands dispersed around the main water basins, as it is in many developing countries in the world, its rural population is characterized by rapid growth rate over the past years. As such, watersheds are continually facing environmental degradation due to the limited supply of the resource and over exploitation to cater for this increasing population. This has resulted to immense land use conversion in the watershed that has a ripple effect on several elements of the watershed. Per se, the research aimed at assessing the land use change and its influence on stream discharge in Nanyuki River Watershed. The main objective of the study is to assess the land use changes and its effect on stream discharge in Nanyuki River watershed. This is done by identifying and mapping the land uses; assessing the trend and periodicity in stream discharge and precipitation; and the correlation between forest cover and stream discharge between 1985 and 2008. Based on the satellite imagery the land use change was assessed, where the forest cover areas were calculated and correlated to stream discharge data. This correlation established the direction and significance of association. The results showed an increased land use change where the forest cover in the watershed is reducing and impervious surfaces were also increasing between 1985 and 2015. The precipitation and stream discharge decreased between 1985 and 2015.The correlation between land use changes and the stream discharge showed a negative association. This means that as the land use changes increases the stream discharge decreases. The study concluded with recommendations that may be employed so as to realize an effective integrated watershed management plan that provides guidance on coordinated management, conservation and development within Nanyuki River watershed.