Why Are Kenya's Rift Valley Lakes Rising, Threatening Thousands?

The Kenyan lakes in the Rift Valley have witnessed significant water level increases recently, ranging from 21% for Lake Naivasha to 123% for Solai. Homes, schools, and hospitals have been flooded. A Kenyan government report estimates that about 80,000 households - 400,000 people - have been affected by the floods since 2010. There are grave economic consequences since agricultural fields and tourism infrastructure have been damaged, reports Mathew Herrnegger for The Conversation.

Data collected from research show that increases in rainfall since 2010 explain the lake level rises. While no scientific study has yet been published explaining the recent increase in water levels, there has been no doubt that an activity deep into the earth's crust could be triggering this overflow aided, perhaps partially, by human activities. Human activity and changes in underground permeability have been advanced before to explain the lake level rises. The results of the study illustrate that surprisingly minor changes in the water balance are enough to explain the lake level rises. 

The regional climate in Eastern Africa has shown significant variability in the past, with long-lasting periods of severe drought but also wetter periods as we are currently observing. Water level fluctuations in the Rift Valley lakes are not new. Lake Naivasha, for instance, was reduced to a puddle around 1850 and particularly low levels persisted throughout the 1940s and 1950s.