Hydroclimatic analysis of rising water levels in the Great rift Valley Lakes of Kenya

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrh.2021.100857
• Publication Date: 2021-06-26T02:08:02Z
• Authors: Mathew Herrnegger; Gabriel Stecher; Christian Schwatke; Luke Olang
• Keywords: Rainfall; Sociology and Political Science; Urban Flooding; Social Sciences; Precipitation; Oceanography; 01 natural sciences; Water Quality; Climate change; Water Science and Technology; QE1-996.5; Global and Planetary Change; Ecology; Evapotranspiration; Geography; Hydrology (agriculture); Geology; 6. Clean water; ddc:; GB3-5030; Hydrological Modeling and Water Resource Management; Influence of Climate on Human Conflict; Physical Sciences; Ecological Dynamics of African Great Lakes; Cartography; Rift valley; Physical geography; Hydrometeorology; Drainage basin; Environmental science; Global Flood Risk Assessment and Management; Meteorology; Environmental Chemistry; Rift Valley lakes; Water balance; Biology; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences; Paleontology; FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences; 15. Life on land; Water level; Lake level rises; Kenya; Geotechnical engineering; 13. Climate action; FOS: Biological sciences; Environmental Science; Eutrophication and Harmful Algal Blooms

Study RegionThe Great Rift Valley lakes of Kenya have recently experienced significant increases in their water levels, negatively impacting the local communities. This has provoked renewed concerns about the causations, with various geological, anthropogenic and hydro-climatic influences hypothesized as potential causes of the water level rises. Study FocusThis study analyses and documents water level fluctuations in Lakes Baringo, Bogoria, Nakuru, Solai, Elementaita and Naivasha. Hydrometeorological analyses are undertaken to understand potential causes and lake volume data is used to derive the “Integrated Catchment Response” (ICR), a magnitude which allows to relate changes in water balance components to signals observed in the lake volume changes.New Hydrological Insights for the RegionCompared to 1984-2009, the recent increases in lake areas range from 21% for Lake Naivasha to an extraordinary 123% for Lake Solai. Mean annual rainfall for 2010-2020 increased by up to 30%. Actual evapotranspiration also increased, but to lesser extent compared to rainfall. The results illustrate that changes in catchment properties due to anthropogenic influences or changes in underground permeability are not necessary to explain the lake level rises. Based on the ICR only surprisingly minor changes in the water balance are necessary to explain the lake level rises, since an increase of only 0.4 - 2% of mean annual effective rainfall leads to the observed phenomena.