Variation of Human and Domestic Animal’s Activities with Discharge in a High Altitude Tropical Stream, the Njoro River, Kenya

Abstract

From ancient times human settlements and cultures thrived along rivervalleys which provided water for domestic use as well as agriculture.aspopulation grew, human activities impacted river valleys as well as affectedwater quality. An investigation was carried out during low (January to March2012) and high (August to October 2012) discharge regimes in the NjoroRiver to establish whether the river’s discharge dictated the visit rate andactivities by people and animals at three sites. The study involved countingof people and animals during the day between 1000–1300hrs that visited theriver, and recording down the activities. The visit rate by people wasstatistically insignificant between low (30.75 ± 5.64 ind. hr-1) and high(20.58 ± 3.41 ind. hr-1) discharges respectively, (t =1.544, d.f = 70, p >0.05). A similar observation was made in mean visit rates by animals(t-value = 0.725, p > 0.05). However, significant differences in the rate ofpeople and animals (pooled data) were evident among the sites during lowand high discharge periods (one-way ANOVA, P < 0.001). More menfetched water at the most downstream site than women during both dischargeregimes, and the opposite was evident at the first site. It is concluded thatdischarge did not influence significantly the visit rates and other factors thatare site specific should be explored.Disturbances in the Njoro River are ofpress type and requires interventionfor themanagementof this river.