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Status and changes of water quality in typical near-city zones of three East African Great Lakes in Tanzania

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Abstract

Tanzania is the only country bordering all three transboundary East African Great Lakes, i.e., Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, and Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi). This study investigated the spatiotemporal variability of basic physicochemical parameters of nearshore surface waters in Mwanza Gulf (Lake Victoria), Kigoma Bay (Lake Tanganyika), and Wissmann Bay (Lake Nyasa). Water quality was evaluated using the water quality index (WQI) method. Results showed that N and P nutrient pollution was relatively severe in central and southern parts of Mwanza Gulf owing to external agricultural emissions and internal release associated with physically disturbed sediment resuspension. External inputs from inflowing surface runoffs from the city of Mwanza typically enhanced N loading in northern parts of the gulf during the rainy season. Poor water quality was found in central and southern parts of Mwanza Gulf, especially in the rainy season. Algal blooms and NH4+-N (total P and total N) were the main factors driving water quality degradation in the rainy (dry) season. Kigoma Bay and Wissmann Bay both had good water quality, except in river mouth areas in Lake Nyasa during the rainy season. The degradation in water quality was caused primarily by increased land-based nutrient and turbidity inputs. To respond to challenges associated with climate change and local socioeconomic development, long-term monitoring of the lacustrine environment and systematic limnological studies will be required, not only in the three bays but also more widely throughout the three lakes and their basins.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Magreth J. Musiba and Charles Mashafi of the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute-Mwanza Centre, Ezekiel Oywaya of the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute-Kigoma Centre, and Msafiri Andrew Ndawala of the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute-Kyela Centre for their kind help and support during the sampling. We would also like to thank all the crewmembers of the sampling boats from the three centers. The research was conducted under the Research Permit of Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (No. 2016-25-NA-2014-265). We thank James Buxton MSc from Liwen Bianji, Edanz Group China (www.liwenbianji.cn/ac), for editing the English text of this manuscript.

Funding

This study is supported financially by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFE0105900), National Natural Science Foundation of China (41877488), Construction Plan for Overseas Scientific Education Base of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (SAJC201609), Regular Foreign Aiding Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (KY201901006), and China Scholarship Council.

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All authors contributed to the study and manuscript. Qiushi Shen and Sophia Shuang Chen designed the investigation and research. Qiushi Shen, Cheng Yu, Qun Gao, Ismael A. Kimirei, Mary A. Kishe-Machumu, Guiping Wu, Yuanbo Liu, Huruma Mgana, Damas W. Mpanda, and Sophia Shuang Chen conducted the field investigation and sampling. Qiushi Shen and Jiaqi Zhang treated the water samples. Qiushi Shen analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. Cheng Yu created the maps of sampling sites. Kurt Friese, Qun Gao, Ismael A. Kimirei, Mary A. Kishe-Machumu, Lu Zhang, Tallent Daddi, Damas W. Mpanda, Yuanbo Liu, and Sophia Shuang Chen revised the manuscript. All authors commented on precious versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Qiushi Shen or Lu Zhang.

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Shen, Q., Friese, K., Gao, Q. et al. Status and changes of water quality in typical near-city zones of three East African Great Lakes in Tanzania. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 34105–34118 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18079-w

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