Tana River (Kenya)
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The ca. 1000 km long Tana River is the longest
river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
in
Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...
, and gives its name to the
Tana River County Tana River County is a county in the former Coast Province of Kenya. It is named after the Tana River, the longest river in Kenya. It has an area of and a population of 315,943 as of the 2019 census. The county borders Kitui County to the w ...
.Nakaegawa T., Wachana C. and KAKUSHIN Team-3 Modeling Group. (2012). "First impact assessment of hydrological cycle in the Tana River Basin, Kenya, under a changing climate in the late 21st Century,
''Hydrological Research Letters'', 6, pp. 29-34
Its catchment covers ca. 100,000 km² and can be divided into the headwaters and the lower Tana consisting of the section downstream of Kora where the river flows for ca. 700 km through semi-arid plains. Its
tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...
include the
Thika Thika Thika (pronounced ˆÎ¸ika is an industrial town and a major commerce hub in Kiambu County, Kenya, lying on the A2 road 42 kilometres (26 mi) Northeast of Nairobi, near the confluence of the Thika and Chania Rivers. Although Thika town ...
, Ragati River from Mt.Kenya as well as several smaller rivers that flow only during the rainy season. The river rises in the
Aberdare Mountains The Aberdare Range (formerly the Sattima Range, Kikuyu: ''Nyandarua'') is a 160 km (100 mile) long mountain range of upland, north of Kenya's capital Nairobi with an average elevation of . It straddles across the counties of Nyandarua, Nye ...
to the west of
Nyeri Nyeri is a town situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is the county headquarters of Nyeri County. The town was the central administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province. Following the dissolution of the former pr ...
. Initially it runs east before turning south around the
massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...
of
Mount Kenya Mount Kenya (Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba, ''Ki Nyaa'') is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (), Nelion () and Point Lenana (). Mount Kenya is locat ...
. A series of hydroelectric dams (the Seven Forks Hydro Stations or the Seven Forks Scheme) has been constructed along the river. These include (in order of cascading) the
Masinga Dam Masinga Hydroelectric Power Station, also Masinga Dam, is an embankment dam on the Tana River, the longest river in Kenya. It straddles the border of Embu and Machakos Counties in Eastern Province and is located about 106 km. (66 mi. ...
(commissioned in 1981 with an installed capacity of 40MW), the
Kamburu Dam The Kamburu Hydroelectric Power Station, also Kamburu Dam is a rock-filled embankment dam on the Tana River in Kenya. It straddles the border of Embu and Machakos Counties in Eastern Province. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric p ...
(1974, 94.20MW), the
Gitaru Dam The Gitaru Hydroelectric Power Station, also known as the Gitaru Dam, is a rock and earth-filled embankment dam on the Tana River in Kenya. It straddles the border between Embu and Machakos Counties in the former Eastern Province. The prim ...
(1978, 225.25MW), the Kindaruma Dam (1968, 72MW) and the Kiambere Dam (1988, 168MW). en The
Masinga Reservoir Masinga Hydroelectric Power Station, also Masinga Dam, is an embankment dam on the Tana River, the longest river in Kenya. It straddles the border of Embu and Machakos Counties in Eastern Province and is located about 106 km. (66 mi. ...
and the
Kiambere Reservoir Kiambere is a settlement in Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = ...
, created by the Masinga and Kiambere dams respectively, serve a dual purpose:
hydro-electric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
(HEP) generation and agricultural irrigation. The other three are used exclusively for HEP generation. A 2003 study reported that two-thirds of Kenya's electrical needs were supplied by the series of dams along the Tana River. Many people believe this river has groundwater underneath it, but it doesn't. The electricity is then supplied to the national grid system and distributed countrywide through a series of substations, transformers and cables. Below the
dams A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...
, the river turns north and flows along the north-south boundary between the
Meru Meru may refer to: Geography Kenya * Meru, Kenya, a city in Meru County, Kenya ** Meru County, created by the merger of *** Meru Central District *** Meru North District *** Meru South District * Meru National Park, a Kenyan wildlife park T ...
and North Kitui and Bisanadi, Kora and Rabole National Reserves. In the reserves the river turns east, and then south east. It passes through the towns of Garissa,
Hola In molecular biology, the δ (delta) subunit of DNA polymerase III is encoded by the holA gene in '' E. coli'' and other bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one bio ...
and
Garsen Garsen is a small town located in Tana River County, Kenya. It is on the west bank of the Tana River. Location Garsen is located on the banks of the Tana River, in Tana River County, approximately south of Hola, the location of the county headq ...
before entering the
Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
at the Ungwana Bay-
Kipini Kipini is a historic Swahili settlement in Kenya's Coast Province The Coast Province ( sw, Mkoa wa Pwani) of Kenya, along the Indian Ocean, was one of Kenya's eight provinces. It comprises the Indian Ocean coastal strip with the capital city a ...
area, at the end of a
river delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition (geology), deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, res ...
that reaches roughly 30 km upstream from the river mouth itself. It runs through a semi-arid area and irrigates the surrounding land. Annual flow is above 5,000 million
cubic meters The cubic metre (in Commonwealth English and international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or cubic meter (in American English) is the unit of volume in the International System of Units (SI). Its symbol is m ...
(MCM) on average, but varies substantially both within and across years, and includes two flood seasons each year Between 1944 and 1978, average total flow (at Garissa) was 6,105 MCM, varying from only 1,789 MCM in 1949 to 13,342 MCM in 1968. During the 1982-1996 period, annual flow remained above 5,000 MCM as well. Water is drawn from the river by the following major irrigation projects: Bura Irrigation and Settlement Project, Tana Irrigation Scheme and the Tana Delta Irrigation Project. There is growing evidence that climate change will disrupt the Tana River and its surrounding habitats.


Eponyms

Two species of African reptiles are named after the Tana River: '' Mochlus tanae'' and '' Myriopholis tanae''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Tana", p. 260).


See also

* Tana River Primate Reserve * Bura Irrigation and Settlement Project


References


External links

* http://www.kenweb.or.ke/index.php/projects/tana-delta.html


Further reading


Securing water and land in the Tana Basin, Kenya: a resource book for water managers and practitioners
* "And the River Flowed On; An Adventurous Journey Down the Tana River" by James Meester 1958 {{Authority control Rivers of Kenya African drainage basins of the Indian Ocean Garissa County Meru County Tana River County Mount Kenya