Introduction
Water is a basic need for human consumption, sustenance of animal and growth of crops. Therefore, it is an essential factor of development and economy.
However, water supply is a main challenge in the developing countries. Therefore, the countries carry out analysis of water supply seeking to solve these challenges (Stein, 2008).
This paper will focus on water supply in Kenya which is a developing country from Africa. It will analyze three types of methods that are used to supply water in a developing country.
They include dams, ground water and rain water (Stein, 2008). The paper will compare the three methods in line with their impacts to social set up, political situation, cost of technology and environmental impacts.
Location
The three methods are found in different locations within the geographical set up of a community. First, dams are built across a river aiming at tapping the flowing water. However, the dams do not tap and retain all the water on the upper side of the river (Stein, 2008).
In this case, a hole is created to allow some water to flow down the stream. As a result, people living down the stream get water for consumption. This location calls for the availability of a river. Therefore, dams cannot work as a supply method in a region that has seasonal rivers.
On the other hand, ground water can be found naturally or through artificial means. Natural supply includes springs, oasis and others. However, artificial supply of underground water is much relevant in this case. In most cases, artificial underground water is found in boreholes.
Boreholes are drilled using strong machines that have the acumen to reach the water table. The boreholes are located in places where the level of the water table is high. This implies that reaching the water table is easier than in the place where the water table is extremely low (Stein, 2008).
As a result, geologist must intervene and examine the level of the water table and determine the suitable location of the borehole.
Rainwater is a natural source of water that forms an essential component in water supply. The location of rain water is determined by storage. Rain water is stored in holes and tanks (Stein, 2008).
Therefore, the water is available for use during the dry seasons. This ensures that the annual rainfall is distributed equally over the year. The government seeks to evaluate the suitability of this method to the country.
Social Impacts
Construction of dams has enormous social impact on human beings. The most significant impacts are relocation of people from their original land. In this light, dams are prone to flooding during the rainy season. Therefore, the flooding water destroys their property forcing them to relocate to other places.
In addition, the dams may be inhabited by dangerous animals like hippopotamus leading to insecurity. Therefore, people are forced to relocate and congest in slums. This is an enormous social impact (Rabar, 2005).
Also, boreholes have similar social impacts on human beings. In this case, people tend to migrate from their original land and surround the bore holes especially in cases where the water is not conveyed to their residence using the pipes. Therefore, the boreholes act as a pull factor for settlement.
As a result, the government is evaluating whether the use of boreholes can work efficiently. Moreover, it is aiming at eliminating the slums that may form around the borehole if they are built.
Rainwater, also, causes social impacts that revolve around human settlement. In Kenya, people tend to settle around areas that receive relatively high amount of rainfall. For example, central province receives the highest amount of rainfall in Kenya.
Consequently, it has an extremely high population of about 3.7 million (Rabar, 2005). On the other hand, North Eastern receives the lowest amount of rainfall and has a lower population of about 479,342. Surprisingly, North Eastern is two times larger than central province by size (Rabar, 2005).
Technological Cost
The cost of technology is incurred during the setup of the method and its maintenance. Surely, dams require a lot of funds to set up and maintain. In this case, building the wall require qualified personnel and experience. Kenya does not have sufficient experience in building the dams and maintaining them (Rabar, 2005).
This implies that the country has to import the man power from other countries like China, U.S.A and Britain. This makes the cost to be extremely high for the growing economy. In addition, building the dam will require machines that are quite costly to obtain (Rabar, 2005).
This forms an additional cost to the process of implementation. Maintenance includes the removal of silt that sinks at the base of the water reservoir leading to floods. This implies that building and maintaining a single dam in Kenya will pose a serious economic challenge to the country.
On the contrary, ground water has a fairly low cost than the use of dams. For example, setting up a borehole system requires a machine that the country can afford without affecting the economy of the country.
When the borehole is made, the country will require insignificant funds to maintain the system. In fact, they would just maintain the pipes distributing water to various residences of the citizens.
Rainwater requires the lowest amount of the fund to implement and maintain. In this light, the government needs to dig up the storage whole and direct the running water towards the holes using ditches. For security reasons, they put a fence around the holes to prevent children from playing around the water hole.
When the holes get silted they remove the silt by use of dredgers. Although it is taxing, the holes do not get a lot of silt since the flowing of water is not continuous. Lastly, they need to pump the water using pumps for irrigation.
Environmental Impact
The three methods of water supply have impacts to the environment. In this case, dams make the reservoirs upstream. The reservoir cause flooding during the rainy seasons and sweep the existing plants and crops.
The plants decay in the water causing the emission of carbon into the atmosphere. This carbon attacks the ozone layer leading to global warming.
Ground water has minimal effect to the environment and the surroundings. The most notable effect it would have is depositing salts on the soil leading to soil degradation and deterioration of fertility.
Using rainwater to supply water to the citizens of Kenya would have minimum effect on the environment. In this light, the construction of holes would lead to depositing soil around the banks.
This soil is infertile and cannot support the growth of plants. In addition, the construction of these holes would need them to clear forests leading to environmental degradation. This is because the available land has been used for settlement.
Political Situations
Construction of dams leads to political debates between governanment and the people living around the dams. This is attributed to the flooding that affect and destroy their property once they occur.
It, also, leads to political disagreements between the people living downstream and the government. This is because the use of the dam would allow little water to flow down the stream
Use of ground water is a crucial source of political violence and disagreement. For example, the use of boreholes causes disagreements concerning the use of water between communities.
In fact, Turkana and Pokot communities have been fighting over oasis and several boreholes that have been made in their county (Rabar, 2005). The use of boreholes should be applied with caution and care. The use of rain water has minimal and insignificant political issues.
Recommendations and Conclusion
According to the above comparison that follows the five factors of social, economic and political interest, it is possible to give suitable recommendations. In this case, the government of Kenya can integrate the use of underground water and rain water.
The two methods require relatively low funds for construction and maintenance. Although, they face political and social challenges, the challenges can be controlled. For example, the government can use pipes to distribute water to the people at their homes.
This ensures that people do not settle around the boreholes. In addition, it would prevent political disagreements on the distribution of water.
On the other hand, the use of dams is not suitable for the country. This is because the dams can be constructed across rivers only. However, rivers are not equally distributed across the country.
Consequently, the country can meet a high technological cost and reach a few people across the country. Therefore, we can conclude that the use of underground water and rain water is the best option for the country.
References
Rabar, J 2005, Kenyan studies, France Institute of Research in Africa, Nairobi.
Stein, R 2008, Water supply, H.W. Wilson Co, New York.