LAKE VICTORIA BASIN

Kisumu is the main city of western Kenya, with direct access to Lake Victoria through the Winam Gulf. Formerly called Port Florence, Kisumu is accessible to the rest of the world through an international airport, as well by boat. The city has a population of half a million people. Water pollution is a major environmental problem around the city. Sources of the pollution include industry, especially sugar processing. Car washing and domestic effluent are other sources of pollution into the Lake. About 10 per cent of households in Kisumu are connected to the sewer system, resulting in the discharge of raw sewage into the Lake. The impact of the high levels of pollution around major settlements such as Kisumu includes eutrophication and the proliferation of water weeds such as the water hyacinth (Mdegela et al. 2014).

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