Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 981-994 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Abstract
The Zambezi River Basin in Southern Africa is undergoing rapid development and population growth. Agricultural intensification, urbanization and future development of hydropower dams will likely lead to a degradation of surface water quality, but there have been few formal assessments of where, how and why these changes impact specific water quality parameters based on in situ data spanning a large region. We sampled a large suite of biogeochemical water quality parameters at 14 locations in four field campaigns in central and southern Zambia in 2018 and 2019 to characterize seasonal changes in water quality in response to large hydropower dams and human landscape transformations. We find that the major rivers (Zambezi and Kafue) are very clean with extremely low concentrations of solutes, but suffer from thermal changes, hypoxia and loss of suspended sediment below dams. Smaller tributaries with a relatively large anthropogenic landcover footprint in their catchments show signs of pollution in the form of higher concentrations of nutrients and dissolved ions. We find significant relationships between crop and urban land cover metrics and selected water quality metrics (i.e. conductivity, phosphorus and nitrogen) across our data set. These results reflect a very high-quality waterscape exhibiting some hotspots of degradation associated with specific human activities. We anticipate that as agricultural intensification, urbanization and future hydropower development continue to accelerate in the basin, the number and extent of these hotspots of water quality degradation will grow in response. There is an opportunity for governments, managers and industry to mitigate water quality degradation via investment in sustainable infrastructure and practice, such as wastewater treatment, environmental dam operations, or riparian protection zones.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Science(all)
- Environmental Chemistry
- Medicine(all)
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Environmental Science(all)
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts, Vol. 23, No. 7, 07.2021, p. 981-994.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Anthropogenic influences on Zambian water quality
T2 - Hydropower and land-use change
AU - Winton, R. Scott
AU - Teodoru, Cristian R.
AU - Calamita, Elisa
AU - Kleinschroth, Fritz
AU - Banda, Kawawa
AU - Nyambe, Imasiku
AU - Wehrli, Bernhard
AU - Winton, R. Scott
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Royal Society of Chemistry.
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - The Zambezi River Basin in Southern Africa is undergoing rapid development and population growth. Agricultural intensification, urbanization and future development of hydropower dams will likely lead to a degradation of surface water quality, but there have been few formal assessments of where, how and why these changes impact specific water quality parameters based on in situ data spanning a large region. We sampled a large suite of biogeochemical water quality parameters at 14 locations in four field campaigns in central and southern Zambia in 2018 and 2019 to characterize seasonal changes in water quality in response to large hydropower dams and human landscape transformations. We find that the major rivers (Zambezi and Kafue) are very clean with extremely low concentrations of solutes, but suffer from thermal changes, hypoxia and loss of suspended sediment below dams. Smaller tributaries with a relatively large anthropogenic landcover footprint in their catchments show signs of pollution in the form of higher concentrations of nutrients and dissolved ions. We find significant relationships between crop and urban land cover metrics and selected water quality metrics (i.e. conductivity, phosphorus and nitrogen) across our data set. These results reflect a very high-quality waterscape exhibiting some hotspots of degradation associated with specific human activities. We anticipate that as agricultural intensification, urbanization and future hydropower development continue to accelerate in the basin, the number and extent of these hotspots of water quality degradation will grow in response. There is an opportunity for governments, managers and industry to mitigate water quality degradation via investment in sustainable infrastructure and practice, such as wastewater treatment, environmental dam operations, or riparian protection zones.
AB - The Zambezi River Basin in Southern Africa is undergoing rapid development and population growth. Agricultural intensification, urbanization and future development of hydropower dams will likely lead to a degradation of surface water quality, but there have been few formal assessments of where, how and why these changes impact specific water quality parameters based on in situ data spanning a large region. We sampled a large suite of biogeochemical water quality parameters at 14 locations in four field campaigns in central and southern Zambia in 2018 and 2019 to characterize seasonal changes in water quality in response to large hydropower dams and human landscape transformations. We find that the major rivers (Zambezi and Kafue) are very clean with extremely low concentrations of solutes, but suffer from thermal changes, hypoxia and loss of suspended sediment below dams. Smaller tributaries with a relatively large anthropogenic landcover footprint in their catchments show signs of pollution in the form of higher concentrations of nutrients and dissolved ions. We find significant relationships between crop and urban land cover metrics and selected water quality metrics (i.e. conductivity, phosphorus and nitrogen) across our data set. These results reflect a very high-quality waterscape exhibiting some hotspots of degradation associated with specific human activities. We anticipate that as agricultural intensification, urbanization and future hydropower development continue to accelerate in the basin, the number and extent of these hotspots of water quality degradation will grow in response. There is an opportunity for governments, managers and industry to mitigate water quality degradation via investment in sustainable infrastructure and practice, such as wastewater treatment, environmental dam operations, or riparian protection zones.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111138375&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/d1em00006c
DO - 10.1039/d1em00006c
M3 - Article
C2 - 34041512
AN - SCOPUS:85111138375
VL - 23
SP - 981
EP - 994
JO - Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts
JF - Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts
SN - 2050-7887
IS - 7
ER -