Yatta Canal, famously known as Yatta Furrow is located in Yatta Constituency in Machakos county. It is situated about 100km from Nairobi along Thika- Garissa Highway. The Canal is 58.8km long and supplies water for irrigation, livestock and domestic use to a population of 74,836 people and 35,000 livestock in Yatta Constituency. Since precolonial period the canal was unlined until July 4th ,2017 when President Uhuru Kenyatta commissioned the lined canal through his administrative efforts to lift the livelihoods of the people in arid and semi-arid regions by providing sufficient water for irrigation. However, the water supply has been unreliable especially during the dry seasons resulting to conflict between the downstream and upstream canal users. The research aimed at assessing the water resource management practices that stipulates for efficient water use to ensure equal supply to the downstream users who go without water for months shortly after each rainy season.
The concept of IWRM that advocates for the best practices in water conservation has not fully been implemented. The research has indicated that the current water demands have increased thus outstripping the supply. There is also evidence that the irrigation methods applied are very inefficient and that result to more losses through seepage since most farmers use unlined canals to channel water abstracted from the canal to their farms. There is no definite water allocation programme designed for irrigation use either. This means that efficient water resource management practices have not been applied thus the major cause of conflict between upstream and downstream canal users.
The research has advocated for the construction of Yatta Dam, to act as a reservoir to the canal for sufficient water supply during the dry seasons when water levels in Thika River go down. Stakeholders involvement in decision making is also a tool for conflict resolution between the upstream and downstream Yatta Canal users. There is also need to create awareness on rain water harvesting methods and other alternative water sources especially for downstream users.