Abstract
River Birira stretches through Kitagata town council and near Kitagata hot springs in southwestern Uganda. These areas receive an inflow of people that utilize the hot springs because of the belief of healing associated with the water. This has led to increased human activities along river Birira, which may negatively impact on the ecological integrity of the river. A number of countries have developed biological monitoring systems to assess the water quality of rivers and streams, however non has been developed specifically for Uganda. This study therefore aimed to assess the water quality of river Birira and determine the compatibility and usability of Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) and Tanzania River Scoring System (TARISS) biological monitoring systems in a Ugandan setting. In this study, four sampling sites were selected basing on human activities taking place along river Birira. The sites were assessed for both physico-chemical and biological parameters using standard methods. In this study 9 physicochemical parameters were used in the computation of water quality index (WQI). Findings of this study indicated that sites in close proximity with the bathing pool of Kitagata hot springs were severely impacted and had undesirable water quality. Results also showed that the water of river Birira is generally unsuitable for human consumption, therefore, needs thorough treatment before consumption and domestic use. This study further revealed that both BMWP and TARISS monitoring systems give similar deductions about the water quality of river Birira. Therefore, any one of the monitoring systems can be adopted in assessing the water quality of the River.
Highlights
Rivers and streams in most parts of the world are threatened despite of the benefits and services they provide to humans
Findings of this study indicate that both biological monitoring systems gave similar deduction with regards to water quality of river Birira
Biological monitoring using aquatic macroinvertebrates as bioindicators of water quality is fundamental in assessing ecological integrity of aquatic ecosystems
Summary
Rivers and streams in most parts of the world are threatened despite of the benefits and services they provide to humans This is expected in most urbanizing areas with limited municipal infrastructure to handle both industrial and domestic wastes (Qin et al, 2014). In many areas, such waste is usually discharged into local rivers with hope that it will be flushed with minimum negative impact on local environment and biodiversity (Nasrullah et al, 2006) This is not the case for point source pollution where effluent discharged influences the water chemistry and habitats in ways that reduce their integrity (Jiake et al, 2011). According to Uganda National Water and Sewerage cooperation, 34% of the villages and 26% of urban areas in Uganda lack access to safe drinking water (NWSC, 2018) This population depends on surface water especially river water which in most cases is contaminated.
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