The Assessment of Environmental and Socio Economic Benefits of River Siti Hydropower Scheme in Mount Elgon Biosphere Reserve, Uganda

Abstract

The study was carried out to assess the perceptions and responses of targeted beneficiaries of Siti Hydropower on the impact and benefits of the renewable energy scheme. Households in proximity to the power supply line were purposefully selected as a sample population. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 38 randomly selected household heads living on both sides of the power supply line. Face to face interviews with staff working with hydropower project and Mt. Elgon National Park (Biosphere Reserve) as well as the District Natural Resource Managers were conducted. In addition, nine focused group discussions involving 72 people, (eighteen of whom were women) were held. The results show that 78.9% of the respondents were of the view that the hydropower project had caused significant environmental problems and 21.1 % of the respondents did not think that the project had any significant negative impact on the environment. About 47.4% of the respondents associated the project with soil erosion along the water channel as the most negative environmental impact of the project, while 21.4% of the respondents highlighted the disruption of the water flow of R. Siti and R. Nyalit and 13.2% of the respondents identified deforestation especially inside Mt. Elgon National Park where the weir (intake) of the power station was located. However, 18.4% of the respondents did not believe that the project caused any negative environmental problem. Regarding the anticipated benefits, 42.1% of the respondents associated the project with social economic improvement of residents, 36.8% reduction on the reliance on fuel wood energy and 21.1% protection of R. Siti and R. Nyalit banks.