Water resources management is central to achieving sustainable development goals (Cosgrove and Loucks, 2015). In urban environments, lakes and reservoirs provide essential ecosystem services including flood regulation, groundwater recharge and recreation, while simultaneously facing intense anthropogenic stress (Da Silva et al., 2021). Among the most pressing challenges is pollution from untreated domestic and industrial wastewater, particularly in rapidly urbanizing tropical regions (Lele and Sengupta, 2018).