Abstract
The study was conducted on the status of the quality of water from the Owabi water treatment plant that supplies drinking water to Kumasi, a major city in Ghana, to ascertain the change in quality of water from source to point-of-use. Physico-chemical, bacteriological water quality parameters and trace metal concentration of water samples from five different treatment points from the Owabi water treatment plant were investigated. The raw water was moderately hard with high turbidity and colour that exceeds the WHO guideline limits. Nutrient concentrations were of the following order: NH3 < NO2− < NO3− < PO43− < SO42− and were all below WHO permissible level for drinking water in all the samples at different stages of treatment. Trace metal concentrations of the reservoir were all below WHO limit except chromium (0.06 mg/L) and copper (0.24 mg/L). The bacteriological study showed that the raw water had total coliform (1,766 cfu/100 mL) and faecal coliform (257 cfu/100 mL) that exceeded the WHO standard limits, rendering it unsafe for domestic purposes without treatment. Colour showed strong positive correlation with turbidity (r = 0.730), TSS (r ≥ 0.922) and alkalinity (0.564) significant at p < 0.01. The quality of the treated water indicates that colour, turbidity, Cr and Cu levels reduced and fall within the WHO permissible limit for drinking water. Treatment process at the water treatment plant is adjudged to be good.
Highlights
Water resources support all forms of life including human beings
The functions of the Owabi catchment which include maintenance of water quality, water storage, water recharge, reproduction area for fish and other aquatic organisms and climate control can adversely be affected by high population and associated increase in human activities (Okurut et al 2000)
The study found out that some physico-chemical properties like pH, temperature, hardness, total dissolved solids (TDS) and Total suspended solids (TSS) of the raw water were within the WHO acceptable limits and pose no risk to consumers even if the water had been used without prior treatment
Summary
Water resources support all forms of life including human beings. Though water is available on earth in huge quantities, only about 3 % is available as freshwater in the universe, and among the fresh water only about 5 % is available for human consumption (Postel et al 1996; Usharani et al 2010). The importance of water to humans is underscored by the fact that many great civilizations in the past sprang up along or near water bodies. Freshwater ecosystems consist of producers, consumers and decomposers (bacteria and fungi). Their interactions with light, water, dissolved nutrients and suspended solids determine the quality of water in the ecosystem (Du et al 2014; Kolpin et al 2002). Water quality problems have increased in recent years in response to growth of human population and increase in industries along water bodies
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