Abstract
The water quality of river Rwizi has increasingly become a concern at community, district and national levels, serving a wider catchment in the south western part of Uganda. With the increasing national human population, there has been an increase in land use activities posing a risk of degradation. This study assessed the land use practices around river Rwizi and the effects they have on the ecological situation of the river. Cross sectional and descriptive research designs were employed in studying the effects of land use practices on the ecological characteristics of the river. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques were used in analyzing the field data. The findings indicate that several land use practices are done around the river and adverse effects have also resulted from these activities. Existing policies and laws on the management of water resources need to be strengthened. Collaborative management should be emphasized to ensure effective management of this river.
Highlights
Since time in memorial, rivers have supported human development activities by providing drinking water, enabling water transportation and providing water for irrigation
It was established that surface waters in form of lagoons, Atwongyeire Doreen et al.: Land Use Practices in the Rural and Urban Sub Catchments of River Rwizi, Western-Uganda; Their Effect on Its Ecological Characteristics estuaries, lakes and rivers in developing countries have been polluted through dumping of wastes because of lack of adequate sanitary facilities in these countries
Land Use Practices Around River Rwizi From the data collected from the field, analysis was done and the findings were presented using appropriate descriptive statistics and charts
Summary
Rivers have supported human development activities by providing drinking water, enabling water transportation and providing water for irrigation. Research findings indicate that there is unequal distribution of fresh water resources on the globe which makes it impossible for most people to have access to water for use in drinking, industry, irrigation and other domestic activities [18, 17, 14]. This has resulted into water stress in many parts of the world, water degradation and conflicts from the use and management of this scarce resource. Human land uses have greatly contributed to the reduction of taxa in stream ecosystems due to increased pollution, mostly those that are less tolerant to high pollution levels (Larry et al, 2008). It was reported that 75% of the population in these countries do that [2 and 20]
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