Almost half of the lake lies in Uwanda Game Reserve.

[2] The lake has seen large fluctuations in its size over the years, due to varying inflow of streams.

[5] For overflow to occur again, the lake's elevation would need to exceed 900 meters.

Overflow into Lake Malawi is not possible now, since the pass between the two basin stands at over 2000 meters elevation.

There is an accumulation of heavy metals like zinc, mercury, copper, lead, chromium, and nickel in sediment, water, and the muscle tissues of Clarias gariepinus (African catfish) and Oreochromis esculentus (Singida tilapia) in Lake Rukwa.