Changes in LULC and landscape factors impact water quality at spatial and temporal scales. In this study, we investigated the current status in water quality for sub-watersheds of the southern portion of the Nyong River basin of Cameroon from 1994 to 2014 using the WHO guideline. The trends in the water quality parameters were explored using Mann-Kendall test, and their relationship with changes in LULC and landscape factors were analysed using multiple linear regression and Pearson correlation. The current status in water quality did not exceed the WHO guideline limits for drinking water despite a 16% decrease in forest cover and 10% increase in agricultural areas during the period of record. The concentration and changes in water quality trends varied significantly among the sub-watersheds. The concentration of Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, SiO_2, K⁺, DOC, SPM and WT showed significantly increasing trends in the Nsimi small sub-watershed, while only Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺ and NO₃⁻ showed significantly increasing trends in the large sub-watersheds of Mbalmayo and Olama. A combination of one to five LULC and landscape factors, including changes in urban cover, young secondary forest, slope, elevation and population explained 10 to 70% of the changes in water quality trends at watershed scale. Although the interaction of LULC and landscape factors seems to have low impact on the water quality so far, maintaining greater than 70% forest cover and appropriate fallow farming system is invaluable to protecting water quality in the Nyong River basin in the Congo basin and in other forest-rich regions.

LULC和景观因子的变化会在时空尺度上影响水质。在这项研究中，我们使用WHO指南调查了1994年至2014年喀麦隆Nyong河流域南部部分流域的水质现状。利用Mann-Kendall检验探索了水质参数的趋势，并使用多元线性回归和Pearson相关性分析了它们与LULC和景观因子变化的关系。尽管在记录期间森林覆盖率下降了16％，农业面积增加了10％，但目前的水质状况未超过WHO的饮用水准则限制。各子集水区之间水质趋势的集中度和变化差异很大。Ca ²⁺的浓度，镁²⁺，钠⁺的SiO _2， ķ ⁺，DOC，SPM和WT显示出显著增加趋势Nsimi小子流域，而只有钙²⁺，镁²⁺，钠⁺和NO ₃ ^-在Mbalmayo和Olama的大子流域显示出明显增加的趋势。一到五个LULC和景观因素（包括城市覆盖率，次生林，坡度，海拔和人口的变化）的组合解释了流域尺度上水质趋势变化的10％至70％。尽管到目前为止，土地利用，土地利用变化和景观因素之间的相互作用似乎对水质影响很小，但保持刚果盆地尼永河流域和其他地区的水质，保持70％以上的森林覆盖率和适当的休闲耕作制度对于保护水质至关重要。森林丰富的地区。