Total Economic Value of Maasai Mau, Trans Mara and Eastern Mau ...

equivalent, using this estimate we can calculate backwards to obtain a cattle equivalentpopulation of 276,000 cattle in the basin. According IUCN (2002) a borehole can support276 cattle equivalent. This would require 1,490 boreholes costing a total of US$ 4,023,623.The Water Resource Management Authority licenses water users for use of water as perthe different permit classes. Irrigation consumes 51% of the water in the Mara RiverBasin with an annual water demand of 12, 240,000m 3 (Table 5). If the catchment area isdegraded such that the water supply is not synchronized with the demand, then 4,470boreholes will be required to meet water demand for irrigation at an annual cost ofUS$ 12, 070,869 (Table 5).The mining activities in the Kenyan and Tanzanian parts of the Mara Basin use about3% of the Mara River water. The total annual water demand by the mining sector is720,000m 3 . This would require 263 boreholes to be constructed and maintained at a costof US$ 710,051 if the catchment area is degraded to the point where it cannot supply thewater for the mining activities.Table 5: Total cost for constructing boreholes to supply water for domestic use in theMara River BasinSector Households Livestock Irrigation MiningProportion of the total demand (%) 20 17 51 3Demand for water (m 3 ) 4,800,000 4,080,000 12,240,000 720,000Number of boreholes 1,753 1,490 4,470 263Replacement cost (US$) 1,237,984 1,052,286 3,156,859 185,698Annual borehole maintenance cost (US$) 3,495,690 2,971,337 8,914,010 524,354Total annual cost of running a borehole (US$) 4,733,674 4,023,623 12,070,869 710,0513.3 The Value of Forest for Water Supply in Urban CentresIn the upper zone of the Mara River especially its tributary the Amala River there isminimal water extraction activities because it flows through protected forests. In the inthe middle and lower zones there is direct collection by households, urbanizing centresand irrigation schemes. The Nyongeres River provides water for Tenwek Hospital,Silibwet and Bomet Town. A new water project, Sigor, is being developed on theNyangores River. This new project will target Siongiroi and other urban centres along34