Assessement of the impacts of sugarcane farming in wetlands on water quality of river Chico :

Abstract

A Study was undertaken on river Chico, in Buyengo town council in Jinja District in the areas habited by Sugar cane plantation and was aimed at assessing the impact of sugar cane farming in wetlands on water quality of river Chico, whose specific objectives were ;-(i) Determine the physico chemical composition (i.e. temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH and electrical conductivity) of the sugarcane plantation inflow and outflow. (ii)Determine the chemical composition (i.e. Nitrates, Nitrites, soluble reactive phosphorus, total phosphorus and total suspended solids) of the sugar cane farm in outflow and inflow. (iii) Evaluate the suitability of sugarcane, outflow water quality for pond siting/ aquaculture production. Water samples were collected from the R.Chico in three sampled sites for two months of December 2021 and January 2022. The Sites were upstream, middle and downstream of the river and they were georeferenced. The physico were collected by multi-probe meanwhile the nutrients were analyzed in the laboratory using a spectrophotometer. The outputs showed, dissolved oxygen from Chico River was less, upstream and was increasing as you could go down stream. This could have been, attributed by the person who are, found brewing alcohol in some of the upstream sites of this river. Thus hindering the oxygen levels in the water more especially when they were using this water placing hot gadgets that could heat the water thus leading to low oxygen levels. Environment still green, water smelling due to molasses discharge by Kakira Sugar Factory hence water was turbid. These effects cause a change in PH, conductivity and total dissolved solids in the water both by site and by timeframe. All the parameters were statistically significant with P-value of P<0.05 by site meanwhile by timeframe only DO, PH, Temperature and not for Conductivity and Total dissolved solids. The same applied to the nutrients. These effects could also affect the fisheries in this river. According to the study undertaken on River Chico, I recommend that the wastes from Kakira, factory should, be prohibited into this river to ensure that the aquatic biodiversity is conserved. Physico and nutrient parameters play a big role in the aquatic biodiversity, therefore there is need to protect River Chico to ensure biodiversity conservation and restorations including the fisheries, and fertilizers used by Kakira factory in the sugar plantations could also be another causative in the increased nutrient levels in these areas that need to observed and advise management.