Connecting the Riparian Communities Around Rapid Bio-assessment of Pollution in the Osia Stream in Tororo, Eastern Uganda

Threats arising from human activities currently affect freshwater bodies, such as headwater streams, and will continue to threaten them in the future, depriving current and future generations of natural resources and services. Among the headwater streams threatened by pollution arising from human activities in the catchment is the Osia stream in Tororo, eastern Uganda. This puts the community's livelihoods and biodiversity at risk because this stream supports the livelihoods of the riparian local community through the provision of freshwater for domestic uses, crop irrigation, livestock, and fishing, and it is a potential habitat for specific organism species. Presently, impacts arising from such pollution on riverine freshwater bodies in Uganda are assessed and monitored using both physico-chemical testing and bioindicators. However, these approaches are characterized and weakened by the limited involvement of the riparian community (immediate resource beneficiaries) in the project activities and complex research methods and results that cannot be easily understood by non-specialists. These limit proper decision-making and conservation of freshwater bodies for both socio-economic and ecological benefits. This one-year study, under Busitema University Research and Innovations fund (BURIF) 2022/2023, aimed at applying a simple rapid bio-assessment approach that is community-involving and understandable to improve contributions towards the monitoring and conservation of the Osia stream. The study was undertaken along a 1.1-km reach of the Osia stream, located at the Kagwara-Osukuru village boundary, on the western periphery of Tororo municipality, in the eastern region of Uganda. Selected riparian community members, including women and local council representatives, were continuously involved from the start to the end of the project activities. Four sites were selected along the stream for the study: one at the upstream stretch and close to the source (a protected spring) to benchmark an area with low pollution for comparison with the other two sites at the midstream and downstream, with more human activities and associated pollution. Selected physico-chemical variables and benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled from the study sites and analyzed accordingly. The stream was polluted, with levels of dissolved oxygen being lower (< 4 mg/L) and turbidity higher (>25 NTU) than the threshold levels for undisturbed streams. Tolerant macroinvertebrate taxa, such as the snail Melanides tubertulata and nymphs of dragonfly Paragomphus sp. and damselfly Pseudagrion sp. dominated the stream, indicating a stressful environment. The Tanzania River Scoring System and Average Score per Taxon scores indicated the stream was within the critically polluted to polluted status range. The riparian community contributed to the making of recommendations geared towards improving the water quality and conserving the stream. The project has contributed to Uganda’s National Development Plan (NDP) III/Vision by working towards restoring and conserving the Osia stream to provide sufficient and good-quality water for domestic uses, especially by women, and for sustainable fishing, crop and livestock production, for food and income earning, relevant for community well-being.