3 research outputs found
Land-Use and Land Cover Changes on the Slopes of Mount Meru-Tanzania
Research Article published by Current World Environment Vol. 13, No. (3) 2018,Environmental transitions analysis was done in part of the land on the slopes of the foothills of Mount Meru in thirty (30) years’ time from 1986 to 2016 using satellite-derived land use/cover maps and a Cellular Automata (CA) spatial filter under IDRISI software environment and assessed the important land use changes. Also, the future land use for 2026 which is the next ten (10) years was simulated based on Cellular-Automata Markov model. The results showed significant land use transitions whereby there is a huge land use change of bush land (BL) and agriculture land (AG) into human settlement (ST) which resulted into conversion of Arusha town into a City. In addition, the changes have caused slight changes in water bodies into mixed forest. Moreover, the future land use/land cover (LULC) simulations indicated that there will be unsustainable LULC changes in the next ten years since most of bush land and part of agriculture land will be used for building different structures thus interfering with fresh water sources and food availability in the City. These changes call upon the relevant planning authorities to put in place the best strategies for good urban development
Assessment of water quality variation in rivers through comparative index technique and its reliability for decision making
This research article published by the Tanzania Journal of Science, 2018The National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) and Weighed Arithmetic Index (WAI) methods for
water quality index (WQI) have been studied to evaluate their reliability in water quality
assessment in rivers. Water samples were collected in various GPS predetermined points in Temi,
Nduruma, Tengeru and Maji ya Chai rivers-Tanzania during wet and dry seasons and were
analyzed for several water quality parameters using standard methods as per APHA. Medium to
excellent water qualities were observed for pristine environment in three rivers except Maji ya
Chai under NSF and WIA methods, respectively. Excellent water quality was observed in the
pristine environment of Temi and Tengeru rivers during wet season. Maji ya Chai water was
identified unsuitable for drinking throughout the year. Fecal Coliforms (FC), Nutrients content,
BOD and Fluorides (F-
) were the major contributors to the poor water quality in Maji ya Chai
whereas FC and Nutrients were a serious problem in flood-plain for other rivers. The two
methods showed different overall Water Quality Indices using the same data thus, making them
unreliable tools for water quality assessment when used simultaneously for the same purpose.
Therefore selection of the method for water quality assessment and decision making may depend
on the water use
Fluoride Variations in Rivers on the Slopes of Mount Meru in Tanzania
This study reports the variations of fluoride ions in rivers on the slopes of Mount Meru in the northern part of Tanzania. More than 318 water samples were collected from Temi, Nduruma, Tengeru, and Maji ya Chai Rivers in both wet (mid-March and April) and dry (August) seasons. The samples were analyzed for fluoride levels using Ion Selective Electrode (ISE). The minimum and maximum average fluoride levels in the wet season were 0.24±0.03 mg/l and 65.20±0.03 mg/l, respectively, whereas the average lowest and highest levels in the dry season were 1.02±0.02 mg/l and 69.01±0.03 mg/l, respectively. Tengeru River had the lowest fluoride levels in both seasons, whereas Maji ya Chai recorded the highest fluoride levels in both seasons. The headwater of all rivers with the exception of Maji ya Chai met the World Health Organization’s (WHO) maximum acceptable fluoride levels of 1.50 mg/l and the downstream environment qualified for Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) maximum permissible fluoride concentration in drinking water of 4.00 mg/l. Also, the laboratory experiments showed that fluoride containing rocks exposed to pH above 7.6 display high leaching of F− in solution which gradually increased with the increase in pH, indicating that dissolution of fluoride in water is a function of pH