Congo River - Pollution

Pollution

The Congo River, also known as the Zaire River, incurs urban pollution in the form of industrial discharges, added to a large amount of runoff from undeveloped locations. Two main sources of pollution to the Congo River include the following:

Polluted runoff, also referred to as non-point source pollution, is derived from soil erosion and municipal wastes.
Travel on the Congo - there aren't many roads in Zaire, so most of the traveling is done on the Congo River. Actually the Congo River is Africa's main navigational system. Barges carrying fuel, wood, minerals, and agricultural produce are common sights on the Congo River. They carry loads of 800 to 1100 tons and travel an average distance of 650 miles. It is without saying that these barges do pollute the Congo River, first from the gas guzzling barges, and second, from materials falling into the river off the barges.

The pollution does accumulate; still the river remains relatively clean compared to countries which still dump their combined sewage, chemical wastes, and other hazardous materials in their rivers.

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Copyright
Wendy Hildreth, Kim Vandenbulcke, Melissa Crosby, Sarah Soloman, Krystian Szczerbicki & Gaytha A. Langlois
Bryant College, Smithfield, RI 02917
November 1999