Assessment of Sedimentation Status of Ruiru Reservoir, Central Kenya

Abstract

Reservoir sedimentation can adversely affect the storage capacity of water bodies; reduce flood attenuation, change water quality, damage valves and conduits amongst others. This study investigated sedimentation rate in Ruiru reservoir as a measure for monitoring water resource management using capacity survey method. Water depth was measured using a transducer fitted on the side of the boat which also recorded corresponding geographic positions with an inbuilt GPS receiver. About 5000 points covering approximately 36 hectare of the water surface were surveyed. A total of eleven sediment sampling points were identified in the reservoir in which five were strategically selected at location near entry from respective streams. The depth of sediments, which relate to the quantity of sediment deposition from the streams ranged between 600 mm and 2100 mm. Ruiru stream demonstrated the highest level of sediment influx into the dam while Ngeteti stream had the least. The reservoir volume was calculated to be 2,632,347m3 and estimate volume of the sediments 389,245 m3, which is a 13.1% storage capacity loss. A related recent study noted storage capacity loss of 11%, which shows that the reservoir has lost about 11-14% of its storage capacity in 65 years. Results further showed that the Area Specific Sediment Yield (ASY) was 38.84 Mg ha-1 y-1, which is higher than the tolerable soil loss of 2 to 18 Mg ha-1 y-1 for the tropics, but is within the range of 10 - 200 Mg ha-1 y-1 typical of savanna ecosystems. These findings are useful to water resource managers because they can help in computing the useful life of a reservoir.