Abstract
Water quality was assessed from 11 hand dug wells in the Adentan Municipality using Water Quality Index (WQI) and bacteriological load as indicators. The sampling was conducted during the months of July to September, 2019. A total of 33 samples were taken from 11 hand dug wells at monthly intervals. Weighted Average Water Quality Index (WAWQI) was used to compute parameters which include temperature, pH, conductivity, total dissolved solids, turbidity, total solids, biological oxygen demand, salinity and total alkalinity. Indicator fecal coliforms were also enumerated. All samples showed presence of E. coli and Salmonella in the dug wells with AD2 having the highest E. coli count of 1.32x103cfu/100 ml. AD11 had the least count of both E. coli and Salmonella (1.28x102 cfu/100 ml and 1.68x101 cfu/100 ml) respectively. The highest WQI value was recorded for AD7 and the lowest was recorded for AD9. 36.4% of the wells were graded as “A” whilst the remaining 63.6% were graded “B”. The combined results of WQI and bacteriological assessment shown that the water quality determined only by WQI (physico-chemical) parameters cannot reflect the true water quality status. Key words: Water quality index, bacteriology, weighted average water quality index, indicator.
Highlights
Water for domestic activities should be potable to guarantee good public health using water-quality index and bacteriological assessment as effective tools for assessment allowing for reporting of information of the quality of the water to citizens and policy makers (Atulegwu and Njoku, 2004)
It is estimated that about 100 million people in rural areas in Sub Saharan Africa rely on ground water for domestic purposes
The highest E. coli count was 1.32x103 cfu/100 ml in well AD2 whilst the least count was recorded in AD11 with a count of 1.28x102 cfu/100 ml
Summary
Water for domestic activities should be potable to guarantee good public health using water-quality index and bacteriological assessment as effective tools for assessment allowing for reporting of information of the quality of the water to citizens and policy makers (Atulegwu and Njoku, 2004). Adu-Gyamfi et al.20% of urban communities are without access to public water services and depend on other sources like ground water for survival. The quality of water from shallow aquifers is compromised when sited close to septic systems in homes and communities (Lutterodt et al, 2018). This is more prevalent in peri-urban areas of Sub Saharan Africa where septic systems are rife (Lapworth et al, 2017). Improving the water supply remains a challenge and many countries have implemented water quality protection measures and monitoring regimens (Astel et al, 2006; Behmel et al, 2016; Romero 2016) including multivariate statistical methods (Singh et al, 2005), modeling techniques (Huang et al, 2016), and methods based on multi-metric indices (Wu et al, 2012)
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