Anthropogenic Activities Control Rainfall Nitrate in the Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya

The Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest fresh water lake experiences eutrophication related problems like the rapid proliferation of water hyacinth, algal blooms, water quality degradation, and decrease in fish population. This is closely linked to excess nutrient discharge in the lake’s basin which is shared by five countries in Eastern Africa. Recently studies have been contacted to investigate nitrate flows and their potential sources in surface and groundwater on the Kenyan part of the basin [1, 2]. However, no studies have been performed to investigate the sources of atmospheric nitrogen in the basin, in spite of atmospheric deposition being reported as the main path way of nitrogen deposition in to the lake [3].

Author

Benjamin Nyilitya1 2 , Catherine Mathenge2 , Ann Karuma2 , Stephen Mureithi