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Southern Ewaso Ng'iro

Field	Value
name	Southern Ewaso Ng'iro
image	File:Southern Ewaso Ng’iro from Kalema (Kenya) to Lake Natron (Tanzania).jpg
image_caption	Southern Ewaso Ng’iro from Kalema (Kenya) to its mouth into Lake Natron (Tanzania)
map	Mauskogen.png
map_caption	Mau Forest (green) with Ewaso Ng'iro running south to Lake Natron at the foot of the map.
mouth_coordinates
subdivision_type1	Country
subdivision_name1	Kenya
basin_size	7600 km2

The Southern Ewaso Ng'iro (Brown River) is a river in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. It plays an important role in the ecology of Lake Natron, the main regular breeding site for near-threatened lesser flamingos. Changes to land use in the river's headwaters or in the marshes before the river enters the lake could have a serious impact on this species.

Course

The Ewaso Ng'iro rises on the Mau Escarpment, where it drains the south part of the Mau Forest. The river flows south through the rift valley to the east of the Nguruman Escarpment. It crosses the border into Tanzania, where it empties into Lake Natron. The river, which runs all year round, is the main inflow to the lake.

The river once flowed directly into the lake, but in geologically recent times it has been dammed by a horst beside the Shompole volcano. This has caused the waters to spread out into the steadily expanding Engare Ng'iro swamp, where the river deposits its sediment. The sediment-free river water then seeps into the brine lake. The permanent swamp covers about 4000 ha. South of this a seasonal floodplain of about 8000 ha stretches down to Lake Natron and along its eastern shore.

Possible changes

The Lake Natron basin has been designated a Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention. However, in the past there have been plans to dam the Ewaso Ng'iro for hydroelectric power generation and for irrigation of the marshlands north of the lake, diverting water from other rivers to increase the flow. The plans would also include creating a variable freshwater lagoon with an area of about 50 km2.

If implemented, the impact on the lake's ecology could be drastic. Reduced salinity and pollution with agri-chemicals could wipe out the blue-green algae that provide food for the lesser flamingo. The lake is the main breeding ground for this near-threatened species.

References

E.J. Gereta, E. Wolanski and E.A.T. Chiombola. (January 2003). "Assessment of the environmental, social and economic impacts on the Serengeti ecosystem of the developments in the Mara river catchment in Kenya".
Warren, John K.. (2006). "Evaporites: Sediments, Resources And Hydrocarbons". Birkhäuser.
R. H. Hughes, J. S. Hughes. (1992). "A Directory of African Wetlands". IUCN.
(6 November 2007). "TNRF: Lake Natron: A summary of the major discussion points". African Conservation Foundation.
"TZ031 Lake Natron and Engaruka basin". BirdLife International.
(May 2024). "Why is the Mau important for our environment?". Mau – ICS.
(9 July 2001). "Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands (RIS), Lake Natron Basin". Wetlands International.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

rivers-of-kenya

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