Climate Variability and Water Resources Degradation in Kenya: Improving Water Resources Development and Management

“(Kenya’s) storage capacity is gradually being reduced by siltation and destructive natural calamities, such as the heavy floods of the El Nino rains, as well as inadequate application of conservation measures. Considering all the factors governing the availability and accessibility of water resources, it is clear that improvement in the management of water resources is a top priority in our country”. Although several studies have been conducted in recent years on Kenyan water resources development and management, none has specifically focused on the economic implications of water resource management or mismanagement. This report attempts to fill that gap for two of the most important water-related issues facing the country – the effects of climate variability and the steady degradation of the nation’s water resources. The study reported here concluded that the El Nino-La Nina episode from 1997-2000 cost the country Ksh 290 billion (about 14 percent of GDP during that period). During El Nino-induced floods, this cost primarily arises from destruction of infrastructure such as roads, water supply infrastructure, and pipe networks. The largest costs incurred during the La Nina droughts (1998-2000) were from loss of industrial production and other costs arising from reduced hydropower generation, as well as from crop and livestock losses. These costs are felt throughout Kenyan society. Based on the limited data available, water resources degradation costs the country at least Ksh 3.3 billion (0.5 percent GDP) annually. This estimate has been developed conservatively; the true cost is likely to be much greater. All sectors of the economy are dependent on water resources, including agriculture, energy, urban, rural, livestock, tourism, industry, and fisheries. While it is not economically efficient to avoid all of these costs, many of them can be avoided (or minimized) by increased investment in water resource infrastructure and more efficient, accountable, and participatory operation of the water resource sector. In most cases, this is a regular cost that the country now faces as a result of the degradation of water catchments, siltation of water storage facilities, pollution of surface and groundwater, eutrophication of lakes and other water systems, and unauthorized abstractions. Some degradation costs are rising steadily, such as pumping costs for ground-water to Nairobi as the water table falls.