A comprehensive evaluation of surface water quality and potential health risk assessments of Sisa river, Kumasi

Abstract

Surface water quality deterioration is one of the primary issues of the twenty-first century due to the high demand for drinking and irrigation purposes in most communities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the suitability of the Sisa river in Kumasi Metropolis, as well as the critical factors affecting its water quality and human health risk among children and adults. The findings indicated that the surface water was alkaline and, in some samples, turbidity, alkalinity, color, microbial, Fe, and Cr concentrations exceeded the standard permissible limits of WHO. Water from individual sampling sites contained Escherichia coli, total, and fecal coliform counts. There was no strong significant correlation among the levels of the heavy metals, suggesting their lack of control in their distribution, source, and transport pathway. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed three factors that account for about 98.86 % of the total variance in the surface water quality data set. Moreover, PCA findings revealed that geogenic and anthropogenic sources were responsible for variations in physicochemical and microbiological parameters of the study area. Fe and Cr were found to have high toxic levels among the heavy metals analyzed. The heavy metal assessment index indicated moderate to high hazards. Cu had a hazard index greater than one at Duase and Atonsu, indicating a possible non-carcinogenic risk. The overall carcinogenic risk values were greater than 10−6, indicating the possibility of cancer. Water quality index values ranging from 97.95 to 137.22 percent showed that about 75 % of the samples were of poor quality. Based on these results, we recommended proper water management strategies and policies should be implemented as soon as possible to manage and protect the water resources.