Nitrogen is part of human and animal excreta which has adverse
effects on water quality. It can also be used as an indicator of faecal
contamination from pit latrines. In the uplands, high TN could be a
result of animal faecal matter especially where the boreholes are
sited on the lower slope of cattle kraals and pit latrines. In addition
the application of both organic manures (livestock manure) and
inorganic N (e.g. ammonium nitrate) may have resulted in higher
TN in dambo garden wells. Furthermore, lower concentrations of
nitrogen in the wet season may have been due to the dilution effect
due to increased volume of water (McIsaac, 2002) and also
increased N uptake by plants.