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Nile River Basin pp 39–68Cite as

Hydro-Meteorology and Water Budget of the Mara River Basin Under Land Use Change Scenarios

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Abstract

Mara is a transboundary river located in Kenya and Tanzania and considered to be an important life line to the inhabitants of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem. It is also a source of water for domestic water supply, irrigation, livestock and wildlife. The alarming increase of water demand as well as the decline in the river flow in recent years has been a major challenge for water resource managers and stakeholders. This has necessitated the knowledge of the available water resources in the basin at different times of the year. Historical rainfall, minimum and maximum stream flows were analyzed. Inter and intra-annual variability of trends in streamflow are discussed. Landsat imagery was utilized in order to analyze the land use land cover in the upper Mara River basin. The semi-distributed hydrological model, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to model the basin water balance and understand the hydrologic effect of the recent land use changes from forest-to-agriculture. The results of this study provided the potential hydrological impacts of three land use change scenarios in the upper Mara River basin. It also adds to the existing literature and knowledge base with a view of promoting better land use management practices in the basin.

Keywords

  • Mara River
  • Hydro-meteorology
  • SWAT
  • Land use change
  • Water budget

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Liya M. Mango & Shimelis G. Setegn

  2. Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Assefa M. Melesse

  3. Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Michael E. McClain

  4. UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands

    Michael E. McClain

  5. Geographic Information Systems-Remote Sensing Center, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Daniel Gann

Authors
  1. Liya M. Mango
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  2. Assefa M. Melesse
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  3. Michael E. McClain
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  4. Daniel Gann
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  5. Shimelis G. Setegn
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liya M. Mango .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, Modesto A. Maidique Campus, 33199, Miami, Florida, USA

    Dr. Assefa M. Melesse

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Mango, L.M., Melesse, A.M., McClain, M.E., Gann, D., Setegn, S.G. (2011). Hydro-Meteorology and Water Budget of the Mara River Basin Under Land Use Change Scenarios. In: Melesse, A.M. (eds) Nile River Basin. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0689-7_2

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