Utilising EO for Sustainable Water Management in Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is threatened by pollution and climate change, but Earth Observation (EO) technology is helping monitor water quality. By tracking pollution drivers, EO insights guide sustainable water management strategies to protect the lake’s ecosystem and support surrounding communities.
Description
Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest freshwater lake delivers valuable ecosystem services to local communities including domestic use, industrial and agricultural water provision, waste disposal, and hydropower generation. However, the lake has already experienced deterioration due to unchecked or unregulated exploitation, invasive species, habitat degradation, pollution, and eutrophication. To address these issues, the Lake Victoria Basin Commission is collaborating with the World Bank and the GDA Water Resources consortium to deliver Earth Observation-based services on water quality monitoring, the assessment of dynamic changes and the analysis of the main factors driving pollution. Remote sensing technology plays a crucial role in monitoring water quality and identifying its change drivers. Scaling up the use of remote sensing enables monitoring of water quality parameters like turbidity, chlorophyll-a, and harmful algae blooms and is used to better understand the drivers for water quality changes and to monitor the impact of water management infrastructure projects.
You can read more about this Case Study here: Battling pollution threats of Africa’s largest freshwater lake