Environmental Impacts of Floriculture Industries on Lake Ziway

Lake Ziway is one of the rift valley fresh water lakes. The lake water is an important water source for the community.There is a lot of deliberation about floriculture industries located at the shore discharging untreated effluent directly in to the lake; as a result excessive fertilizer and pesticide residue from the farm is deteriorating the water quality as well as the aquatic life. Therefore, this study was proposed with the objective of assessing the impact of floriculture industries on the water quality. To do this, five sites were chosen on the lake near the outlet of flower farms. A total of 60 samples were tested for physicochemical, oxygen demanding, nutrient and micronutrient parameters. The result indicated the levels of PH, EC, TDS, NO3-, PO43-, Na, Mg, K, Ca, BOD, COD & DO were beyond WHO, FAO and US-EPA water quality guideline values for use as a raw public water supply, irrigation, maintenance of fisheries and aquatic life respectively. In general, the water quality of Lake Ziway has been threatened and becoming less suitable for the variety of purposes being used. Actions should be taken before the once precious fresh water Lake turn out to be seriously polluted.