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An Assessment of the Role of Water Hyacinth in the Water Level Changes of Lake Naivasha Using GIS and Remote Sensing

Received: 19 August 2018     Accepted: 19 October 2018     Published: 19 November 2018
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Abstract

Lake Naivasha is an important water resource for Kenya being a fresh-water lake in a region dominated by salty-water lakes. The lake supports several human activities around it. Its water level, though fluctuates, was gradually declining before 2010. The water level rose from March 2010 and has since remained relatively high. As a result, areas around the lake that were previously land surface are currently submerged in water. This is threatening the survival of human activities around the lake. Consequently, the study sought to establish the causes of the lake’s water level fluctuations in the period 2000-2016, focusing on the role of rainfall, temperature, human activities around the lake, and water hyacinth. Surface area of the lake covered by water and surface area of the lake covered by water hyacinth were extracted from Landsat images. The SEBAL model was used to estimate evaporation potential over the lake and differences in evaporation over areas covered by water hyacinth and open water surfaces were analysed. Water hyacinth cover was found to have significant, positive correlation with monthly average water levels (p < .05). Open water surfaces lost significantly higher water volume through evaporation than areas covered by water hyacinth (p < .05). This suggests that water hyacinth contributes to the high water levels. Rainfall received over Nyandarua slopes, which is the catchment region for in-flow rivers was also an almost statistically significant contributor to lake’s water level changes, while temperature was not. On the other hand, growing human activities around the lake seemed to contribute to water level decline through increasing abstraction from the lake. The study recommends more research on, and implementation of better and more ecologically efficient measures for controlling water hyacinth growth in Lake Naivasha.

Published in American Journal of Remote Sensing (Volume 6, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajrs.20180602.13
Page(s) 74-88
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2018. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Lake Naivasha, Remote Sensing, Water Level, Water Hyacinth, Evaporation, Evapotranspiration

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  • APA Style

    Peter Odoyo Agutu, Moses Karoki Gachari, Charles Ndegwa Mundia. (2018). An Assessment of the Role of Water Hyacinth in the Water Level Changes of Lake Naivasha Using GIS and Remote Sensing. American Journal of Remote Sensing, 6(2), 74-88. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajrs.20180602.13

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    ACS Style

    Peter Odoyo Agutu; Moses Karoki Gachari; Charles Ndegwa Mundia. An Assessment of the Role of Water Hyacinth in the Water Level Changes of Lake Naivasha Using GIS and Remote Sensing. Am. J. Remote Sens. 2018, 6(2), 74-88. doi: 10.11648/j.ajrs.20180602.13

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    AMA Style

    Peter Odoyo Agutu, Moses Karoki Gachari, Charles Ndegwa Mundia. An Assessment of the Role of Water Hyacinth in the Water Level Changes of Lake Naivasha Using GIS and Remote Sensing. Am J Remote Sens. 2018;6(2):74-88. doi: 10.11648/j.ajrs.20180602.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajrs.20180602.13,
      author = {Peter Odoyo Agutu and Moses Karoki Gachari and Charles Ndegwa Mundia},
      title = {An Assessment of the Role of Water Hyacinth in the Water Level Changes of Lake Naivasha Using GIS and Remote Sensing},
      journal = {American Journal of Remote Sensing},
      volume = {6},
      number = {2},
      pages = {74-88},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajrs.20180602.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajrs.20180602.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajrs.20180602.13},
      abstract = {Lake Naivasha is an important water resource for Kenya being a fresh-water lake in a region dominated by salty-water lakes. The lake supports several human activities around it. Its water level, though fluctuates, was gradually declining before 2010. The water level rose from March 2010 and has since remained relatively high. As a result, areas around the lake that were previously land surface are currently submerged in water. This is threatening the survival of human activities around the lake. Consequently, the study sought to establish the causes of the lake’s water level fluctuations in the period 2000-2016, focusing on the role of rainfall, temperature, human activities around the lake, and water hyacinth. Surface area of the lake covered by water and surface area of the lake covered by water hyacinth were extracted from Landsat images. The SEBAL model was used to estimate evaporation potential over the lake and differences in evaporation over areas covered by water hyacinth and open water surfaces were analysed. Water hyacinth cover was found to have significant, positive correlation with monthly average water levels (p < .05). Open water surfaces lost significantly higher water volume through evaporation than areas covered by water hyacinth (p < .05). This suggests that water hyacinth contributes to the high water levels. Rainfall received over Nyandarua slopes, which is the catchment region for in-flow rivers was also an almost statistically significant contributor to lake’s water level changes, while temperature was not. On the other hand, growing human activities around the lake seemed to contribute to water level decline through increasing abstraction from the lake. The study recommends more research on, and implementation of better and more ecologically efficient measures for controlling water hyacinth growth in Lake Naivasha.},
     year = {2018}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - An Assessment of the Role of Water Hyacinth in the Water Level Changes of Lake Naivasha Using GIS and Remote Sensing
    AU  - Peter Odoyo Agutu
    AU  - Moses Karoki Gachari
    AU  - Charles Ndegwa Mundia
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    T2  - American Journal of Remote Sensing
    JF  - American Journal of Remote Sensing
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-580X
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajrs.20180602.13
    AB  - Lake Naivasha is an important water resource for Kenya being a fresh-water lake in a region dominated by salty-water lakes. The lake supports several human activities around it. Its water level, though fluctuates, was gradually declining before 2010. The water level rose from March 2010 and has since remained relatively high. As a result, areas around the lake that were previously land surface are currently submerged in water. This is threatening the survival of human activities around the lake. Consequently, the study sought to establish the causes of the lake’s water level fluctuations in the period 2000-2016, focusing on the role of rainfall, temperature, human activities around the lake, and water hyacinth. Surface area of the lake covered by water and surface area of the lake covered by water hyacinth were extracted from Landsat images. The SEBAL model was used to estimate evaporation potential over the lake and differences in evaporation over areas covered by water hyacinth and open water surfaces were analysed. Water hyacinth cover was found to have significant, positive correlation with monthly average water levels (p < .05). Open water surfaces lost significantly higher water volume through evaporation than areas covered by water hyacinth (p < .05). This suggests that water hyacinth contributes to the high water levels. Rainfall received over Nyandarua slopes, which is the catchment region for in-flow rivers was also an almost statistically significant contributor to lake’s water level changes, while temperature was not. On the other hand, growing human activities around the lake seemed to contribute to water level decline through increasing abstraction from the lake. The study recommends more research on, and implementation of better and more ecologically efficient measures for controlling water hyacinth growth in Lake Naivasha.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Institute of Geomatics, GIS and Remote Sensing, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Nyeri, Kenya

  • Institute of Geomatics, GIS and Remote Sensing, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Nyeri, Kenya

  • Institute of Geomatics, GIS and Remote Sensing, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Nyeri, Kenya

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