Abstract—Zambia’s urban population is growing dramatically, driven by perceptions of better economic opportunities, infrastructure and services in urban areas. Water supply services, sanitation and other social amenities provision in urban areas like Lusaka, Kitwe, Livingstone and Ndola are getting overwhelmed and growth gauging from poorly planned residential settlements, growing energy demand, housing, poor road infrastructure accompanied by traffic jams have compounded the failure by local authorities and utility firms to cope with the demands of the rapidly increasing population. Due to high public demand for water, the water supply commercial utility companies fail to meet the consumption demand. It is from this view point that this research was conducted. The main objective was to assess the impact of increasing population on water quality in Kitwe - Zambia. It has been concluded that both surface and groundwater is being polluted due to anthropogenic activities in the concerned town. The findings also point to that fact that water quality can be affected by increasing population. I. INTRODUCTION Water is crucial for all life on earth. It plays an essential role in our health, economy, food production, and environment. Safe drinking water and freshwater are imperative for development and public health, since 21 of the 37 primary diseases in developing countries are related to water and sanitation [1]. The fact that our supply is finite has dire implications on our world population of nearly 7 billion people and growing. The global water consumption rate doubles every twenty years, a pace that is double the rate of population growth. If population and consumption trends persist, it is estimated that the demand for water will surpass its availability by 56%, and 1.8 billion people will be living in regions of water scarcity by 2025 [2]. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that developing countries, already experiencing water-stress, often have the highest population growth rates—bringing more people into a region that already cannot support them. Population growth is a direct determinant of increases in water demand for domestic uses. Another key demographic Manuscript received March 5, 2014; revised May 26, 2014. This work was supported in part by the Copperbelt University, School of Mines and Mineral Sciences under Environmental Engineering Department. The authors are with the Copperbelt University, P.O Box 21692, Kitwe, Zambia (e-mail: sydney.sichilima@cbu.ac.zm, cuthbert.makondo@cbu.ac.zm, cosmas.lungu@cbu.ac.zm). factor is change in the geographic distribution of population, which modifies the spatial pattern of demand for domestic use. Urbanization, in particular, through increased population density and the concentration of demand, can make the latter a serious constraint on local resources. Many third world cities are critical areas from the viewpoint of water supply. II. IMPACT OF POPULATION GROWTH ON SURFACE WATER Reference [3], human activities affect levels of river runoff principally by the direct withdrawal of water, the regulation of rivers, and land uses that change the surrounding environment and affect watershed dynamics. The population growth and socio-economic development mainly control water demand for different uses [4]. On my research I looked at how water quality in a Buchi Stream as been affected and polluted due human activities as a result of population growth. There is high uncontrolled level of disposal of sawdust and ash in the Buchi Stream resulting from illegal sawmills, open burning of sawdust and charcoal burning. These activities have resulted in the narrowing and reduction in the depth of the stream and emissions of high levels of smoke from incomplete combustion of charcoal burning process is affecting the surrounding community. Despite sawdust and ash being inert materials if high levels are disposed in the stream it may have many chemical and physical impacts such as alteration of parameter like Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand or Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), turbidity, Total Dissolved Solids and total suspended solids of water. Physical impact like narrowing and reduced depth may consequently result firstly in water stagnation and secondly drying up of the downward stream. Also high level eutrophication resulting from saw dust decomposition downstream was observed. A. Dissolved Oxygen One of the most important measures of water quality is dissolved oxygen. Oxygen, although poorly soluble in water, is fundamental to aquatic life. Without free dissolved oxygen, streams and lakes become uninhabitable to aerobic organisms, including fish and most invertebrates, observed by [5]. Table I above shows dissolved oxygen by Winkler’s Method analysis before incubation period of five days. According to [6], the dissolved oxygen concentration shall be not less than 5.0 mg/liter at any time. Critically analyzing the results of Table I and Table II, I can confidently say that the dissolved oxygen demand falls in the range of the stipulated Zambian Standards even though results in Table II are clearly showing Impact Assessment of Increasing Population in Suburban Areas on Water Quality — A Case Study in Kitwe Township-Zambia Sydney Sichilima, Cuthbert Makondo, and Cosmas Lungu 34 DOI: 10.7763/IJESD.2015.V6.557 Index Terms—Groundwater, pollution, population growth, surface water, water quality. International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 6, No. 1, January 2015