Water quality management and sustainability: the experience of Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project (LVEMP)––Tanzania

Abstract

Human health and development are threatened in many parts of the world either from lack of water or poor water quality. Human development has partially contributed to water quality deterioration. In Tanzania, for instance, rapid population growth that caused expansion of agricultural activities, livestock keeping, deforestation, biomass burning and human settlement have exerted pressures within the Lake Victoria Basin. These developments have led to land degradation and increased levels of pollution mainly from non-point sources. The Governments of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda initiated the program of Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project, (LVEMP), in 1994 to rehabilitate the Lake Ecosystem through restoration and conservation of biodiversity in the lake as well as within the catchment. This paper presents the five years (1997–2002) experience of LVEMP in Tanzania on the issues of water quality; focusing on water pollution, water quality monitoring and LVEMP strategies to accomplish water quality management in the Lake Zone (Kagera, Mara and Mwanza regions). The findings show that non-point source pollution from agricultural practices; as well as unplanned urban settlements contribute more to siltation and eutrophication of the of Lake Victoria than that from point source pollution. Recommendations for water quality management and sustainability are presented.