by Ann Waithaka
Original Research
Watershed management and water resource planning require accurate measurements of the past and present land use and land cover data to determine hydrological and ecological processes taking place. This study aimed to establish the extent of land use and land cover changes that have occurred in River Ruiru watershed in Kiambu County from 1976 to 2017. The study integrated the use of remote sensing data and GIS techniques to collect and analyse collected data. Three multi-temporal LANDSAT imageries of 1976, 1995 and 2017 were used. Supervised classification-maximum likelihood algorithm in ArcGIS 10.4.1 was employed. Results from the study indicated that built-up areas, annual crops and perennial crops (tea and coffee) increased by 3.068%, 35.848% and 11.493% respectively between 1976 and 2017. However, it was observed that perennial crops increased gradually between 1976 and 1995 but declined by 1.94% between 1995 and 2017. During the same period, between 1976 and 2017, grassland, shrubland and forestland declined by 7.48%, 13.25% and 29.79% respectively. The findings from this study will enable the quantification of change and analysis of the direction of change between various land use/land cover types that have occurred in River Ruiru watershed from 1976 to 2017 hence enabling the assessment of watershed hydrological vulnerabilities resulting from land use/land cover change. The data from this study will provide critical input to decision making on water resources management and planning. This will aid in the management of water resources on a watershed basis thus addressing the potential impacts and deterioration of water resources.
Journal of Geosciences and Geomatics. 2023, 11(4), 97-101. DOI: 10.12691/jgg-11-4-1
Pub. Date: November 09, 2023
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