By Bob Aston
Sipili Water Resource Users
Association (WRUA) members have been urged to be at the forefront of protecting
riparian and catchment areas. Speaking during a capacity building workshop on
October 15, 2014 organized by Sipili WRUA and Water Resources Management
Authority (WRMA) at Ng’arua Maarifa Centre in Laikipia West, Mrs. Rahab Nyururu
from WRMA said that members of Sipili WRUA need to understand aspects related
to catchment conservation.
Mrs. Nyururu said that conservation
of riparian land has been addressed through Water Resource Management (WRM)
rules 2007.
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| Mrs. Nyururu addressing participants during the workshop |
She said various activities have been
proscribed on riparian land that include; tillage or cultivation, clearing of
indigenous trees or vegetation, building of permanent structures, disposal of
any form of waste within the riparian land, excavation of soil or development
of quarries, planting of exotic species that may have adverse effect to the
water resource or any other activity that in the opinion of the Authority and
other relevant stakeholders may degrade the water resource.
“There may be site specific catchment
areas that need to be identified, mapped and assessed. These areas are smaller
than the sub-catchment and may be related to springs, micro-catchments, hilltops
and swamps,” said Mrs. Nyururu.
She urged Sipili WRUA to engage in
activities that lead to conservation of riparian and catchment areas. She noted
that the establishment of a tree nursery, afforestation and reaforestation and farm/
protected area can go a long way in protecting riparian areas.
She said that a well vegetated
riparian area will protect the river bank from erosion and collapse. This
protects the land and helps protect the water quality. She added that
protecting riparian areas also retards floods which can have a destructive
impact downstream.
“Riparian reserve is important to the
water resources because it reduces runoff and soil erosion from going directly
into the water course and it also acts as a buffer zone to trap the runoff
water and soil erosion,” said Mrs. Nyururu.
She informed Sipili WRUA to start a
pegging exercise of riparian and catchment areas. She said this can be done through dialogues
and agreement with land owners as to reason for pegging and also plan with them
the best use of riparian land in a way that is consistent with best practice.
“The government requires those that
have riparian land to be good custodians of the land in order to protect the
water resources,” said Mrs. Nyururu.
She also called for demarcation of
riparian lands for easy management. She said that the radius of riparian land
adjacent to eye of a spring, a lake, reservoir, stagnant body of
water and land on each side of a watercourse has been addressed through various
water laws while the water resource inspector can also determine the radius of
riparian land.
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