ORGANIZATION AND PERFORMANCE OF WATER RESOURCE USERS’ ASSOCIATIONS IN THE SOUTHERN RANGELANDS OF KENYA

Abstract

Water insecurity is a threat to pastoral livelihoods and sustainability. The Water Act of Kenya, 2002, created the Water Resource Users’ Associations (WRUAs) to enhance water resource conservation access at the local level.  Nevertheless, environmental degradation has increased in recent times, further exacerbating water crisis and threatening livelihoods. This study sought to assess the status of community based water resource conservation in the Southern rangelands of Kiserian, Kajiado County, Kenya. Kiserian WRUA members were purposively sampled for this survey. Data was mainly collected through administration of a semi-structured questionnaire.  Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were also conducted to validate the data obtained from the questionnaire. Chi-square and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data using SPSS version 20.  Results indicated that access to information on water conservation and training were significantly associated, with membership to the WRUA (χ2=0.56, p≤0.05) and (χ2=0.71, p≤0.05), respectively. Majority (79.5%) of the Kiserian WRUA members had participated in tree planting within the catchment. Half (50%) of the WRUA members were mainly motivated to join the association because of perceived benefits like improved access to water at lower prices and participation in catchment protection. The main challenges facing the WRUA were inadequate funding from the government and other stakeholders (93.2%) and lack of support from county leadership (34.1%). It was concluded that WRUAs, especially in the rangelands of Kajiado, Kenya, played a key role in catchment conservation and water access for resilient livelihoods among pastoralists. This study therefore recommends awareness to increase WRUA membership and allocation of sufficient funding from the government and other related stakeholders to WRUA conservation activities, if catchment conservation for improved water access in the area is to be realized.