Soft System Methodology in the Management of Agroecosystem Health and Sustainability Concerns of a Tropical Highlands Agroecosystem - Integrated Assessment of Health and Sustainability of Agroecosystems - page 131

Plate 5.1 One of the gullies in the Kiawamagira intensive study site, Kiambu district,
Kenya, October 1997.

Plate 5.2 Damaged access road to the Kiawamagira intensive study site, Kiambu district,
Kenya, October 1997.

based on this perspective is shown in Figure 5.3. The third was that the area was a
swamp before settlement and therefore prone to flooding. The proposed action was
therefore to find means of preparing the community to better cope with flooding and
damage (Figure 5.4).

5.3.1.2 Gitangu Water Project

According to the participants in the initial village workshop, the Gitangu water proj-
ect was initiated as a self-help project by the community in Ngecha Sublocation,
Limuru Division, in Kiambu district in 1962. The project drew water from Gitangu
springs located within Gitangu village and pumped it, using an electric pump, to
two water reservoirs in the sublocation, one of which was in Gitangu village. The
project was taken over by the Ministry of Water Development in 1965. The minis-
try was the main manager until 1980, when the pump and other accessories were