The Uganda Atlas - GRID-Arendal

Water levels in major lakes
NEMA 2008
Lake Bunyonyi in Kabale District, Western Uganda (2008). The lake catchments are well managed.
Water levels
From 1948 Lake Edward highest water levels ever
recorded is 2.68 meters in May 1978 and the lowest is
0.91 meters in July 2000. This is a difference of 1.77
meters between the highest and lowest water levels ever
recorded on the lake. The lowest water levels can be
attributed to the drought conditions from 1999 (La Niña).
From 1945 Lake George highest water level ever
recorded is 5.19 meters in May 2002 and the lowest is
4.08 meters in march 1974. This is a difference of 1.11
meters between the highest and the lowest water levels
ever recorded.
Major Lakes Catchment Areas
Figure 5: Lake Edward
Lake Edward Water Levels (metres)
Lake George Water Levels (metres)
UBOS 2008
Nearly the entire country lies within the River Nile Basin
save for a small portion in the north east that drains into
Lake Turkana.
Figure 6: Lake George
UBOS 2008
Most of the Lakes in Uganda may be classified as shallow;
for example Victoria the largest lake has an average
depth of only 82 m, while some of the lakes like Kyoga
have average depths of less than 10m. The lakes, Edward
and Albert and the volcanic lava dammed Lake Bunyonyi,
have the greatest depths presumably due to deeper
depressions created by intense warping and later filled
with water.
The varying depths have an important bearing on the
water storage capacity of the lakes and sensitivity to
reduction in storage due to the increasing problem of
silting as a result of environmental change.
Uganda is well endowed with drainage systems, with a
large number of rivers and streams draining from eight
river basins into River Nile.
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