and Blue Lagoon National Parks have been established on the flats. Around Mazabuka as the river gets closer to the town of Kafue, sugar plantations and other large agricultural estates have been established on the fertile black soil and use water from the river in the dry season. Kafue Gorge and Dam The Kafue Flats end at Kafue town and from there, as the rift valley gets deeper, the river drops 550 m over 60 km through the Kafue Gorge. A second dam, the Kafue Gorge Dam, with a smaller reservoir, generates electricity. The lower Zambezi (originally a separate river) cut back through the rift valleys and eventually captured the Kafue. Their confluence is about 20 km north of Chirundu. Bridges Railway See Kafue Railway Bridge for a full account. It was opened in 1906 Road The first road bridge across the Kafue was originally built across the Thames in London during the Second World War. After the war, it was dismantled and installed some 9 km downstream from the railway bridge. Previously, road traffic crossed the river by pontoon. The T3 road crosses the river in-between Chililabombwe and Chingola as well as in the city of Kitwe, both in the Copperbelt Province. The T2 road (Great North Road; Cape to Cairo Road) crosses the river 10 km south of the Kafue town centre. The Lusaka–Mongu Road crosses the river as the Kafue Hook Bridge in the Kafue National Park. Environmental issues Pollution As it flows through the Copperbelt the Kafue River is at great risk of pollution, not just from urban waste but from copper mine tailings. The swampy areas west of the Lukanga Swamp help silt and pollution settle out so that the river becomes clear downstream. A report in April 2002 said: . . .natural wetlands are quite effective at controlling water pollution from mining in the Copperbelt . . . Tests show the Kafue to be clean of mining pollutants downstream from the Copperbelt. In the Kafue flats, the discharge of phosphates in excess fertiliser run-off from commercial farming and the Nakambala Sugar Estate can cause algal blooms and weed growth, reducing fish populations. Effluent from mining containing cadmium, lead and mercury have degraded the Kafue River Municipal water supply had to be suspended when the Kafue River turned blue due to slurry discharge Because of its size and geographic location, the Kafue River basin is