Impact of Sedimentation on Water Seepage Capacity in Lake Nakuru, Kenya

Abstract

Accumulation and deposition of sediments in waterbody affect the seepage capacity that could lead to improper water balance and results in the water level rise. This study analysed the influence of sedimentation on seepage capacity in Lake Nakuru and the impact of sediment characteristics to the water seepage and the flow rate formation at the lake bed level. The study was performed by sampling and analysing the sediment cores from two locations in the lake. The sediment hydraulic properties, i.e., moisture and porosity, particle sizes, and hydraulic conductivity, were determined using the oven-drying method, sieve analysis, hydrometer analysis, and falling head tests, respectively. The results showed that the lake sediment sample from location P1 had an average ratio of 39.38% for silty soil, 34.00% for clayey sediment, and 26.63% for fine-sand sediment particles with the maximum permeability coefficient of 3.37 ∗ 10 − 5 cm/s, while the one from location P2 had an average ratio of 63.17% for sand, 20.17% for fine particles, and 16.67% for gravels with the maximum permeability coefficient of 0.010793 cm/s. The hydraulic conductivity of sediment sample from location P1 and P2 increased along the core depth. This could lead to the rise of water level due to the decreases of water movement induced from the sediment cementation in the top layers under the waterbody. Sedimentation affects Lake Nakuru water volume and water balance; hence, there is a need to control the inflow of sediment resulting from anthropogenic activities in the watershed.

The Physicochemical Properties of Deposited Sediments at the Maruba Dam Reservoir Inlet, Machakos County, Kenya

“…us, finely grained particles affect the plastic index and permeability characteristics of the soil. us, a higher percentage of finely grained soil particles obstruct the movement of water through the soil medium [41].…”

“…Indoor measurements for saturated hydraulic conductivity can be obtained using constant or variable-head tests [40]. According to [41], the variable-head test is the most suitable for finely grained soils, while the constant-head method is best suited for coarse-grained soils. In this study, the permeability test was conducted using the constant-head test, given the coarse nature of the sediments in the study area.…”

“…Soil permeability is greatly influenced by both soil texture and its structure. Permeability measures the rate of water percolation through a given soil medium [41]. It depends on the soil's texture, structure, and bulk density [51].…”

Applying of Marine Predators Algorithm Linked with Reservoir Simulation Model considering Sedimentation for Reservoir Operation

“…In addition, the reservoir function is determined by considering the correlation curve in capacity-area-elevation of the reservoir. However, sedimentation in the reservoir decreases the storage capacity of the reservoir over time [21][22][23][24][25].…”

Detection of Degraded Acacia Tree Species Using Deep Neural Networks on Uav Drone Imagery

“…It is important to quantify dead woody Acacia xanthophloea since, according to previous studies their presence improves biological diversity within live forests such as the introduction of mosses and lichens which attracts migratory birds in the National Park (Vareschi and Jacobs, 1985;Harmon et al, 1986;Nordén et al, 2008). The downed Acacia xanthophloea was not caused by any climatic factors but rather by the increased volume of water due to sedimentation (Iradukunda et al, 2020) in Lake Nakuru which overflown its bank (Osio et al, 2018), hence weakening the riparian trees from their roots, causing them to fall. Coarse fallen woody debris in water-bodies i.e.…”