16 
Bulletin of the EANIiS 29(1/2) 
SPECIAL FEATURE 
The author of the following essay won the United 
Nations Volunteer Essay Competition for 1998 This 
article is a slightly shortened version of his winning 
entry. 
LAKE VICTORIA— A THREATENED COMMON 
HERITAGE 
During my childhood, growing up hy the beautiful 
glittering shores of Lake Victoria I was ever fascinated 
by this vast expanse of crystal fresh water striding aloft 
the East African Equatorial region. My |>ecrs and I 
knew it os it was commonly called 'Nanii Lolwc’, to 
us meaning the lake without termination in the local 
Luo dialect Lake Victoria has. however, witnessed 
changes in the recent past that haw come at a great 
ecological and environmental price, threatening die very 
existence of the lake. 
Formed as a result of intensive plate tectonic activity 
within the* eaith crust many years ago and measuring 
approximately 400 kilometres long b> 200 kilometres 
Wide. Lake Victoria ranks comfortably as the world's 
second largest freshwater lake and hy far the largest in 
continental Africa Its waters ate shared among the three 
Last African states of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda 
Hie lake's inflow is from numerous rivers and 
streams w ith their sources in the high rainfall lake basin 
highlands Chief among them arc risers Kagera in 
Uganda and N/oia in Kenya Others arc rivers Nyando. 
Migoti tic The great river Nile is the only major 
outflow. These inlets and outlets maintain ihc 
hydrological balance of the lake 
Lake Victoria has a catchment area of approximately 
47.7(W km’, of which approximately 10%. falls within 
Kenya The caicltmeiu area intersects ihe Inirdcrs ot 
other Central African countries such ns Burundi. 
Rwanda and some parts of eastern Democratic Republic 
of Congo. It is trom this ihat the problems afflicting 
Lake Victoria assume an International perspective 
because they put at risk the livelihood of In excess of 
30 million people whose lives arc directly dependent 
on the lake's natural resources 
for millions of years. Lake Victoria has served and 
met the diverse socio-economic and cultural needs of 
the lake basin dwellers, as a source of water foi essential 
domestic purposes like drinking, cooking, washing, tie 
And also for agricultural and industrial uses However, 
the lake is encountering a number of threats and 
problems and alarm bells are already ringing, sounding 
the death knell for this precious gilt of nature 
The threats facing Lake Victoria basically fall into 
the following broad categories: pollution of the lake 
water, over-exploitation and misuse of the lakes 
resources and its associated wetlands, the water hyacinth 
menace, the introduction of the Nile perch and 
dcstruction/rcclamation of the swamps However, these 
threats, as varied as they arc. do not occur in isolation 
from each other but to a greater degree arc intricately 
connected and. more often than not. overlap— as do 
their origins and their effects, which range from 
widespread poverty and mass unemployment io serious 
epidemics and species extinction 
follution in Lake Victoria has reached unbearably 
alarming proportions and still continues unabatcdly from 
all corners of this lake This contaminaiion of the lake 
through the introduction of unwanted foreign bodies, 
has. over a period of wars, has lowered the water quality 
considerably, thereby leading to proliferation of 
waterborne diseases and epidemics like cholera, 
dysentery, bilbarz.ta. etc . , which have become 
w idespread. This has rendered the lake water hazardous, 
especially foi human consumption follution is mainly 
of two types - point source pollution and non-point source 
pollution In the former case, which is more prevalent. 
Hie source of pollution as well as ihe pollutants are 
known, while in the later case the source of pollution is 
unknown, although the pollutants may be identified 
through analysis. 
foinl source pollution usually comes from domestic, 
commercial and industrial wastes and cfflucnis in solid 
but more usually in liquid and, less often, in gaseous 
forms Demesne effluent pollutants include both 
biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes. 
Biodegradable wastes include food remnants, fruit peels 
etc Non-biodegradable wastes include broken pieces 
of glass, plastic containers, plastic bags and tin cans, 
among others. 
Lake Victoria also receives sewage wastes, which 
arc usually inadequately treated or not treated at all. 
Irom a number of iowtis and cities situated along its 
shores and bays These include Kisumu in Kenya. Jinja 
in Uganda and Mwanza and Musoma in Tanzania, 
among others. These urban centres mostly lack modem 
sewage treatment plants; those present were built many 
years ago and their capacities have been outstretched 
hy the ever increasing wastes resulting from human 
population growth 
These urban centres arc also sites of heavy industrial 
plants dealing in loud processing, plastic manufacturing 
and oil refining These industries release toxic and 
noxious by products in form of biochemical and organic 
pollutants, eg., paraffin, diesel and other organo 
metallic compounds into Lake Victoria In addition, 
pharmaceutical and biological wastes from hospitals and 
other research institutions, which arc highly toxic if 
not safely disposed of, do likewise find their way into 
the lake 
Mining wastes from areas like Kehancha and 
Kakamega. both In Kenya, where cold is mined, usually 
contain heavy metals such as mercury, which apart from 
being a pollutant, is accumulated within the food chain 
and. hence, poses a serious health hazard Indeed reports 
from recent research, undertaken to determine the 
amount of mercury in the lake, indicate that the levels 
are becoming critical These might result in extensive 
human and animal mortality through a condition 
