Jilani C. Chiro^1,, Romulus Abila¹, Aggrey Thuo¹

The world famous Masai Mara Game Reserve is experiencing an unprecedented expansion in tourist facilities to accommodate increasing traffic in this water scarce environment. A major direct environmental impact of this expansion is wastewater released to the fragile environment from these facilities. The objective of this study is to examine the effects of wastewater management methods on quality of wastewater in 4 purposively selected high-end tourist facilities located in Sekenani within Masai Mara Game Reserve by assessing seasonal quality of effluent discharged. Water samples were collected randomly from the effluent of the facility during both wet and dry seasons and were subjected to analysis for: pH, Temperature, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Phosphates, Nitrates, Electrical Conductivity (E.C), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Turbidity, Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and Coliforms. Data were analysed using SPSS software and tested using analysis of Variance at 0.05 confidence level. Quality of wastewater was generally poor and dissolved oxygen, TSS, and coliforms showed variation between the wet and dry seasons. Single septic tank and septic tank and soak away treatment approaches produce water with the lowest quality based on Water Quality Index (WQI). This poses a great threat to not only the health of the communities relying on the recipient rivers as sources of water but also the Masai Mara ecosystem. To mitigate against discharge of poor quality wastewater to the environment, we recommend incorporation of modern innovative environmentally sustainable wastewater management technologies e.g. constructed wetlands to water treatment systems and robust enforcement of national environmental regulations. Further studies should include monitoring changes in macroinvertebrate species diversity and abundance along the recipient streams to provide a more holistic and integrated assessment of the ecological impact of the wastewater on the receiving lotic environments.

Sekenani, Masai Mara Game Reserve, wastewater, wastewater management, physico - chemical parameters