Ephemeral rivers are common hydrological features in Southern Africa where periods of up to 9 months occur, without significant rainfall. These rivers are important in the Kitui region of Kenya, where water shortage impedes rural and urban development. The seasonal rivers of Kitui provide suitable water for domestic, livestock and agricultural use, particularly small-scale irrigation. A majority of the population of Kitui county depends on the ephemeral river for water supply. In dry periods, water levels drop and water can only be found in scoop holes (holes dug in the riverbed). The water shortage is where NaBWIG, an abbreviation for Nature-based water infrastructures in Ethiopia and Kenya for #GlobalGoals (NaBWIG), focuses on. Its goal is to increase resilience through sustainable water supply with the use of stored water within ephemeral sand rivers (Karimi, 2018). This research is part of NaBWIG where, based on 2 months fieldwork trip to Kenya, an evaluation was done using Q-methodology. This study aimed to define which elements of water access are valued by people who use water from sand storage dams in two sub-regions in Kitui – Kenya. This research revealed the broad definition of access to water, specifically when zooming in to local sand dam utilization. Main elements that seem to be most important like distance, time, water quantity, water quality and also reliability of a water source. Other elements are also related to water access such as social capital, income and terrain. Results suggest that ‘one community’ does not exist in either of the regions. The results from the Q-method show different perspectives within both communities on both domestic and agricultural water use, with specifics of perspectives depending on whether one takes the respondents as a whole or analyses them per community. In both regions, comparable elements arise, but different groups appear too. These two ‘communities’ are diverse in perspectives and one must look at both regions with different ‘lenses’ as their position is different from each other. The researcher may force these people into groups, which then are called a community, but in reality, is still a group of people with different interests. The alignment of these different factor groups is important to ensure the community benefit the most of a sand dam structure, which does not stop after construction. This research aimed at creating a better understanding of the interplay of multiple factors regarding water access and provided a more thorough understanding of the dynamics of local communities and their appreciation of water access regarding sand storage dams.

This report contains the findings of a multidisciplinary project in Mozambique which ran from mid-November 2018 to mid-January 2019. This study is part of the IWACA-TECH project, which is an abbreviation for “Improved Water efficiency Control based on remote sensing TECHnologies. The goal is to increase water efficiency and crop yield without increasing the consumptive use of water, using remote sensing and Model Predictive Control (MPC). The structural water scarcity in the region points out the relevance of the IWACATECH project and with that this study. The research, carried out by students of Delft University of Technology, is of importance for both the company Tongaat Hulett and all inhabitants who are direct or indirect dependent on the water of the Incomati river. The study area on the plantation in Xinavane copes not only with inefficient irrigation water use but also suffers a sugarcane yield decline in recent years ??. Therefore, the overall aim of this report is to improve water efficiency and crop yield within Tongaat Hulett. To achieve this from a multidisciplinary perspective several research questions have been formulated. Although they all contribute to the overall aim, they do so from different angles and in varying degrees. Therefore, to increase the readability of the report, the research questions have been divided into three sections: (1) Irrigation Practices, (2) Field Assessment on Yield Variability and (3) Decision Support System. Fieldwork was conducted over a five week period in order to gather data. Groundwater levels were measured, water quality of irrigation, ground- and precipitation water samples was analysed and soil moisture content was measured. This led to further research of soil types and quality. Soil profiles along the edges of both fields were made revealing a shallow aquifer in the bad-performing field. Irrigation water quality seems to form no hazard, but ground water quality analyses revealed significantly high electrical conductivity levels and a high sodium adsorption ratio in areas without growth. These findings, combined with an analysis of the digital elevation map and socio-technical data revealed that evaporation of irrigation water seems to be a large contributor to the impaired crop growth. When excess water cannot run off, puddles are formed. When these puddles evaporate, salts can be taken up by the soil once the thickened irrigation water infiltrates. This process is strengthened by the clay soil layer and the shallow aquifer, which prevent water from infiltrating deeper into the ground. Results concerning remote sensing prove the relationship between soil moisture content and precipitation for meteo-station XNA-20. Combining spatial and temporal variability of soil moisture content with remote sensing can play an essential role in managing irrigation practices. For the decision support system, and in specific the controller part of the system, measurements have been done. It can be concluded that storage area and delay times can be considered insignificant, and that canals do not have to be modelled. This makes the controller significantly easier and thus more time and effort can be spend on other aspects of the controller.