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Lake Victoria is an important regional resource for the riparian countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and has been experiencing deteriorating water quality in the last four decades. Winam Gulf, in the north-east of the lake, covers a large portion of the Kenyan waters of the lake and was also thought to contribute substantial amounts of agricultural pollution to the lake. CWR was commissioned by the World Bank to investigate exchange and transport between Winam Gulf and the main lake via two large-scale field experiments conducted in conjunction with Kenyan scientists. The results of the findings were significant â€" the exchange between the Gulf and the main lake was small, indicating that resources used to reduce pollutant run-off in Kenya would have a direct impact on Kenyan lives through improved fisheries and reduced microbial pollution.
Figure: Map of salinity in Winam Gulf, showing the freshwater input of the major rivers on the eastern margin (in blue), the relatively fresh waters of the main lake to the west (also blue), and the relatively stagnant waters of the Gulf (red) which have higher salinity due to local evaporation. This spatial pattern was also visible in turbidity and algal concentrations, and allowed for the identification of regions influenced by various water quality regimes.
Principal component analysis of in situ fluorescent excitation spectra measurements to identify phytoplankton niches; Winam Gulf, Lake Victoria
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