February 2012

Impacts of urban growth on flood hazards in Makkah City, Saudi Arabia

  Flash floods are the most dangerous type of natural disasters in arid regions, such as Saudi Arabia. The effects of urban growth, witnessed between 1990 and 2010, in Makkah city, Saudi Arabia, on runoff volume and peak discharge are investigated using the curve number (CN) flood-modelling methodology. Shapefiles of residential areas are compiled and integrated in a unique geographic information system (GIS)...

Author(s):   Khaled A. Al-Ghamdi, Ramze A. Elzahrany, Meraj N. Mirza, and Gomaa M. Dawod,          

February 2012

Well water contamination by pit latrines: A case study of Langas

  In many peri-urban areas of Kenya, potable piped water does not exist and where it does, it is rarely reliable. Thus, in such areas, residents heavily rely on groundwater sources for their daily survival. Therefore, it is common to find individual wells in each plot within such a peri-urban dwelling. Furthermore, in most cases, such dwellings lack municipal sewers, hence forcing residents to construct pit...

Author(s):   Clement Kiprotich Kiptum and Julius Musyoka Ndambuki