New threat to Lake Victoria?

Two hydroelectricity dams appear to be threatening the health of Lake Victoria – and of the people living along its shores who depend on the lake for food. A new study¹ suggests that the dams’ systematic overuse of water has decreased the lake level by at least two meters between 2000 and 2006 – and that this drop was not influenced by weather. The study by Yustina Kiwango of Tanzania National Parks and Eric Wolanski of James Cook University in Australia was published online this week in the Springer journal Wetlands Ecology and Management.