This picture of the Kapingazi taken in June 2009 shows water flowing despite the 2008 - 2009 drought in Kenya.

This story describes how a river that had dried up was revived through an integrated intervention approach by four government ministries. The river basin can now support the people living in it.

The concept employed is the bottom-up approach. The community analyzed the problem through a participatory rural appraisal exercise and the Government of Kenya intervened immediately afterwards with the support of Mount Kenya East Pilot Project on Natural Resources Management (MKEPP-NRM). The programme is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The Kapingazi river basin is in Kenya and draws its water from one of the country’s most important water towers – Mt. Kenya. The Kapingazi basin is divided into three zones: the upmost area being forest zone, followed by the tea zone then the coffee zone which is part of the municipality. Each zone had a different type of intervention which MKEPP-NRM employed to counteract the basin degradation as recommended by the appraisal document.

Problems began in the 1980s when the Shamba system was practiced in forest reserves. Communities living around Mt. Kenya forest were allowed to farm in the forest on condition that they care for young trees. After a while, the system appeared to fail in curbing deforestation because more land was being cleared for agriculture.

The failure of the Shamba system brought about degradation of the forest and affected the sources of many rivers including the Kapingazi. By the year 2002, the river had dried up. This development brought with it many calamities.

The first one was that, as the river is the source for Embu town water supplies, water shortages caused an out break of typhoid which claimed several lives. The community living in the basin did not have water to use and there was a public outcry. These events led to the formation of the Kapingazi River Water Users Association (KaRWUA) as a forum to address the crisis.

In 2004, MKEPP-NRM was formed after an appraisal proposal was forwarded to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The project is a seven year programme that initially covered five districts on the eastern slopes of Mt. Kenya. These are: Embu, Meru South, Meru Central, Mbeere and Tharaka. MKEPP-NRM’s key objective is to conserve natural resources in the selected five basins, among which is the River Kapingazi basin. It is now five years since work began at River Kapingazi.

According to the hydro-meteorological data we have been collecting and analyzing, the flow of Kapingazi River has improved and it has not dried up during the 2008 – 2009 dry spell. The base flow is commendable and is reliable for water supply in the basin. As part of the basin’s rehabilitation, farmers were taught best practices to employ in their farms and to stop river bank encroachment. In the forest zone, the Shamba system practice was stopped and the source of the river was rehabilitated.

Farmers in the water catchment area were urged to remove eucalyptus trees and replace with water friendly species. The measure is now being replicated across Kenya as part of a government drive aimed at conserving water. Farmers are being encouraged to plant Grevillea instead, which is an agroforestry tree with many commercial benefits such as timber, firewood and fodder.”

Right now, forest cover is regrowing. Initially there was very little water coming from the forest but at this time, the flow is improving.

The Kapingazi River system has six major water projects, that is, Kithimu Kithegi water project, Nthambo Njukiri water project, Embu Water and Sanitation Company (EWASCO), Embu Agriculture Staff Training College water supply, Kamiu Kavanga water project and Itabua Muthatari water project. After rehabilitation, the river has continued to support the above projects.

Map of the Kapingazi Basin

View Kapingazi river catchment in a map