Assessing Land Suitability for Rainwater Harvesting Using Geospatial Techniques: A Case Study of Njoro Catchment, Kenya

Water demand increases as population increases leading to overexploitation of water resource. Consequently, there is need for improved water resources management complemented with rain water harvesting within the catchments. This study sought to assess land suitability for surface runoff harvesting...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied and Environmental Soil Science 2016, Vol.2016 (2016), p.130-138
Main Authors: Maina, C. W., Raude, J. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Case studies
Catchment areas
Embankments
Environmental aspects
Groundwater recharge
Groundwater runoff
Groundwater storage
Kenya
Land use
Landsat
Overexploitation
Rain
Rain and rainfall
Remote sensing
Soil sciences
Surface runoff
Water demand
Water harvesting
Water resources management
Water-supply
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Summary:Water demand increases as population increases leading to overexploitation of water resource. Consequently, there is need for improved water resources management complemented with rain water harvesting within the catchments. This study sought to assess land suitability for surface runoff harvesting using geospatial techniques. Land use/land cover maps of the area were derived from Landsat image. Land use and soils data were used in generating curve number map of the catchment. Lineaments greatly affect the storage depending on whether runoff is for surface storage or ground water recharge purposes. As a result, ArcGIS was used in delineating the lineaments from Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the catchment. Further, using weighted overlay the catchment was grouped into categories of restricted, not suitable, moderately suitable, suitable, or highly suitable. The study found that forest, agriculture, and built-up areas occupied about 39.42%, 36.32%, and 1.35% of catchment area, respectively. A large part of catchment was found to have curve number range of 82–89. About 50% of the catchment was found to fall within suitable and highly suitable categories. This implied that a great potential exists for rain water harvesting within the catchment.
ISSN:1687-7667
1687-7675
DOI:10.1155/2016/4676435