Assessing the implications of Lake Victoria water level patterns on community livelihoods in Kalangala district.

Abstract

Lakes are experiencing significant fluctuations across the globe. Amongst the major global environmental challenges around the world, drying up of lakes is the most critical one. Water level fluctuations are very critical hydrological factors of lakes and shallow watersheds. Current water levels of Lake Victoria are below normal and the lowest ever since 1961 and the water are very sensitive to moderate changes in rainfall. Studies focusing on water level fluctuations but focusing on Lake Victoria are not prevalent. The current study therefore assessed the implications of Lake Victoria water patterns on the community patterns and develop more feasible measures to combat such implications. The study further analyzed the factors contributing to Lake Victoria water level fluctuations in Kalangala district. A cross sectional research approach was undertaken using mixed approaches (qualitative and quantitative methods) where simple random sampling was employed in selection of the households and purposive sampling on the key informants. Data was collected through field surveys, interviews and direct field observations; and then analyzed using thematic content analysis where descriptive statistics (percentages and frequencies) were generated in Microsoft excel spread sheets and then presented inform of tables, pie charts and bar graphs. The study findings revealed that the lake however is subjected to seasonal fluctuations and at times overflows manifest as floods leading to loss of lives, destruction of property, displacement among others. People who have stayed in the area more tend to adapt more compared to those that have just come into the area. From the study findings, it was reported that majority of the respondents had stayed in the area for more than 10 years that is 46.7% of the respondents, 33.3% had stayed between 6-10 years, 16.7% had stayed between 1-5 years and only 3.3% had stayed for less than 1 year. The study further investigated the relationship between size of the household and the implications of the water fluctuations. After running a chi-square analysis, the study revealed that p<0.05 and basing on those P-values, the size of the household has significant relationships with the implications of the lake water level fluctuations.