Use of physicochemical parameters and macroinvertebrates to assess impacts of anthropogenic activities on water quality in Pnyinyi river, Arusha, Tanzania
| dc.contributor.author | Ramadhani, Omary Rajabu | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-01-20T05:01:04Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-01-20T05:01:04Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.description | Dissertation | |
| dc.description.abstract | River are one of the most important fresh water resources for the sustainability of living organisms. However, various anthropogenic activities such as agriculture, livestock keeping, industrial and domestic activities have been reported to degrade the quality of rivers in supporting the aquatic life and human need in large. To address this situation, this study assesses the impacts of anthropogenic activities in Pinyinyi River water quality using physicochemical parameters, macroinvertebrates and social economic activities during the dry season (11/2021) and wet season (02/2022). Nine water quality parameters were analyzed, namely; Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), phosphate, potential of Hydrogen (pH), Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Dissolved Solid (TDS), turbidity, Dissolved Oxygen (DO) and nitrate. Multi-parameter analyzer (model HANNA HI 9829) used for onsite measurement of pH, EC, TDS, DO and turbidity, HACH spectrophotometer (HACH DR/2700) used for laboratory analysis of phosphate and nitrate, BOD incubator and COD digester was used for analysis of BOD and COD respectively. A macroinvertebrates hand net with 250 μm mesh size was used to collect the macroinvertebrates per sampling point. Structured questionnaire were used to collect data about social economic activities. The DO, BOD, COD and turbidity were above the permissible limit during dry and wet seasons. Phosphate, pH, EC, TDS and nitrate were within the permissible limit during dry and wet seasons. During dry season, aquatic caterpillar, pouch snail, dragon flies and mosquitoes were collected whereas, creeping water bugs, predacious dividing beetles, pigmy back swimmer, water mites, back flies, mosquitoes larva, midges, aquatic earth worm, snail and moth flies were collected during the wet season. Identification of these macroinvertebrates was done using the Aquatic invertebrates of South African Rivers field guidebook. Average score per taxon (ASPT) indicated that, the Pinyinyi River was moderately polluted (ASPT = 5.25) during the dry season and seriously polluted during the wet season (ASPT = 3.6). The social economic activities were agriculture, livestock keeping, soda ash harvesting, fishing, bathing and washing along the river, deforestation, water diversion, sand mining and tourist guidance.The study revealed that, agricultural activities, sand mining, fishing, water diversion, deforestation, livestock keeping, bathing and washing affect the river water quality of the river. The study recommends riparian buffer creation, strict laws, and best management of agriculture practices, education provision and livestock exclusion to be the best ways of Pinyinyi River restoration. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/20.500.14820/7237 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Sokoine University of Agriculture | |
| dc.subject | Anthropogenic activities | |
| dc.subject | Biodiversity | |
| dc.subject | Macroinvertebrates | |
| dc.subject | Physicochemical parameters | |
| dc.subject | Shannon Weiner diversity index | |
| dc.subject | Water quality | |
| dc.subject | Water pollution. | |
| dc.title | Use of physicochemical parameters and macroinvertebrates to assess impacts of anthropogenic activities on water quality in Pnyinyi river, Arusha, Tanzania | |
| dc.type | Thesis |