FLOWING THROUGH TIME: THE CHANGING HYDROCLIMATE AND WATER RESOURCES OF LAKE TURKANA

East African Rift Lakes are important water resources and support livelihoods of millions of people in their catchments. The closed nature of the lake basins make them exceptionally sensitive to both regional and local processes acting on different timescales. Throughout their history these lakes have varied in size depending on the climatic and volcano tectonic processes of the region. Lake Turkana, is the largest desert lake in the world has fluctuated between 50-100 m during the Holocene, higher lake levels beyond the overflow sill led to overflow into the Nile and the hydrological connectivity of different lake basins and the mixing of aquatic species.

The modern lake Turkana is both saline and alkaline receiving 90% of recharge from surface runoff. Climate change and human activities impact the region’s water resources. In the last decade the region has experienced multiple extreme rainfall and drought events, with devastating effects on the livelihoods and water availability. There is serious concern for the region’s future because of the strong consensus that climate change will have a major effect on rainfall coupled by large infrastructural development that will exert competing interests on the water resources. For sustainable water management a comprehensive assessment of the hydro-climatic variations and trends is essential. While much progress has been made over the years, there are still gaps in knowledge of the distribution and quality of surface and subsurface water, recharge for geothermal systems that is important for green energy transitions. This study performs a comprehensive assessment of hydro-climatic variations and change trends to highlight key water resource changes and their impact in the Turkana region.