The Ruvu River is a river in eastern

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. The Ruvu River originates in the southern

Uluguru Mountains The Uluguru mountains are a mountain range in eastern Tanzania, named after the Luguru people, Luguru tribe. The main portion of the Uluguru mountains is a ridge running roughly north-south and rising to altitude at its highest point. On the ma ...

and flows eastwards to empty into the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

near

Bagamoyo Bagamoyo (''Mji wa Bagamoyo'', in Swahili) is a historic coastal town and capital of Bagamoyo District in the Pwani Region of Tanzania. Much of the settlement was founded at the end of the 18th century, though it is an extension of a much old ...

. Its chief tributary is the

Ngerengere River Ngerengere River is a river of the Morogoro Region of Tanzania. It rises in the Uluguru Mountains, and flows eastwards to join the Ruvu River at approximately 7.05085 S, 38.51571 E. The city of Morogoro is on the Ngerengere River. The Mindu Dam ...

, which rises in the northern Ulugurus and flows through the city of

Morogoro Morogoro is a city located in the eastern part of Tanzania, approximately 196 kilometers (122 miles) west of Dar es Salaam. Retrieved on November 24, 2011. It serves as the capital of the Morogoro Region. Informally, it is referred to as ''Mji ...

before joining the Ruvu. The Ruvu drains a

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, th ...

of 11,789 km², which includes portions of

and Pwani regions. The Wami River catchment lies to the north and west, and the

Rufiji River The Rufiji River lies entirely within Tanzania. It is also the largest and longest river in the country. The river is formed by the confluence of the Kilombero and Luwegu rivers. It is approximately long, with its source in southwestern Tanzani ...

catchment lies to the south. The Ruvu River is an important source of water for households, irrigated farms, and industries in communities along the river. It is also the principal source of water for

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (, ; from ) is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over 7 million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa by population and the ...

, Tanzania's largest city, which lies on the coast east of the Ruvu catchment. It suffers increasing levels of pollution from the release of untreated households and

industrial wastewater Industrial wastewater treatment describes the processes used for treating wastewater that is produced by industries as an undesirable by-product. After treatment, the treated industrial wastewater (or effluent) may be reused or released to a s ...

into the river.Alphayo, Stephano M. and M. P. Sharma (2018). "Water Quality Assessment of Ruvu River in Tanzania Using NSFWQI". ''Journal of Scientific Research & Reports'', 20(3): 1-9, 2018; Article no.JSRR.44324 ISSN: 2320-0227. Published 08 October 2018.

References

{{Coord, -6.3797, 38.8608, type:river_region:TZ, format=dms, display=title Geography of Morogoro Region Geography of Pwani Region Rivers of Tanzania