Integrated Water Towers Monitoring System (IWTMS)

A Water Tower refers to an upland area (hill, plateau and mountain) whose climate, geology, tectonics, substrate, land cover/use and hill-slope morphological characteristics support reception, infiltration, percolation and storage of rainfall (or any form of precipitation) on the surface, in the soil, rock and aquifers that, apart from surface runoff, is a gradual source of water through springs, rivers and swamps in a drainage basin (also called catchment [UK] or watershed [US]) 

Some of the key features that qualifies an area as a Water Tower are the topography (elevation)that enables adequate runoff flow to a lower point, hydrology (adequate springs, streams and river networks to feed bigger basins), geology, suitable soils and adequate vegetation cover that allows sufficient storage of both underground and surface waters and hosts a myriad  biodiversity

Currently there are eighty eight (88) Water Towers in the Country. Out of these, eighteen (18) are gazetted while 70 are non-gazetted. Among the gazetted Water Towers, there are five (5) major ones that are key to the Country’s socio-economic development. They include: the Mau Complex, Mt. Kenya, Aberdare ranges, Cherangany Hills and Mt. Elgon. These are montane forests and the country’s five largest forest blocks.

They form the upper catchments of all the main rivers in Kenya supplying more than 75% of the country’s renewable surface water.In addition to provision of water, the Water towers provide invaluable service to Kenya's inhabitants, wildlife and economy by providing multiple ecological, economic, social and cultural benefits which provides opportunities for poverty alleviation and economic development as envisaged in the country’s Vision 2030 blueprint. 

With the help of the Technical Working Group, the Kenya Restoration Atlas has come up with 3 critical goals - Conservation, Production and Governance. All the data in the site is clustered into these categories. Please click on the links above to explore the categories.