Nyumba ya Mungu is a man made lake in the Kilimanjaro region. The reservoir is situated in the Pangani River Valley of the Masai Steppe, about 50 km south of Moshi. It is fed by two major inflows, the rivers Kikuletwa and Ruvu which drain some 7,500 square kilometres (2,900 sq mi) of catchment consisting of wooded grassland, forest, true desert, and alpine desert.[3]
It was constructed for the purposes of irrigation, hydro-electric power and to start a local fishing industry. The reservoir was completed in December 1965 however the irrigation scheme had not yet been developed. The plan was to build a dam that would have served the purpose of storing flood flow, which would allow the development of some 30,000 acres of irrigated farming and generation of electricity power.[4]
By 1970 the lake had a thriving Tilapia fishery production. However, this did not last long and subsequent reports from 1972 and 1973 showed a major decline in fish product.[4]
^ abDenny, Patrick (14 January 2008). "Nyumba ya Mungu reservoir, Tanzania: The general features". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 10 (1): 5–28. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1978.tb00002.x.
