Abstract
One of the main challenges facing the potable water production industry is deterioration of the quality of raw water. Drinking water that does not meet quality standards is unfit for consumption. Yet, this quality is a function of various factors, key among them being quality of the raw water from which it is processed. This is because costs related to potable water treatment are related to the nature of raw water pollutants and the degree of pollution. Additionally, survival of aquatic species depends on self-purification of the water bodies through attenuation of pollutants, therefore, if this process is not efficient it might result in dwindling of the aquatic life. Hence, this chapter presents spatial and temporal water quality trends along uMngeni Basin, a critical raw water source for KwaZulu-Natal Province, in South Africa. As at 2014 the basin served about 3.8 million people with potable water. Results from this study are discussed in relation to uMngeni River’s health status and fitness for production of potable water treatment. Time-series and box plots of 11 water quality variables that were monitored at six stations over a period of eight years (2005 to 2012), were drawn and analysed. The Mann Kendall Trend Test and the Sen’s Slope Estimator were employed to test and quantify the magnitude of the quality trends, respectively. Findings showed that raw water (untreated) along uMngeni River was unfit for drinking purposes mainly because of high levels of Escherichia coli. However, the observed monthly average dissolved oxygen of 7 mg/L, that was observed on all stations, suggests that the raw water still met acceptable guidelines for freshwater ecosystems. It was noted that algae and turbidity levels peaked during the wet season (November to April), and these values directly relate to chlorine and polymer dosages during potable water treatment.
Highlights
Water is an integral natural component of any ecosystem as well as a social and economic good [1, 2]
The mean and median values (Table 1) for all stations studied shows that turbidity was above the South Africa expected limit for drinking water, which is 0–1 NTU [40]
Even though the results indicated that nitrate levels (Table 7) were within the regulatory limit for potable use (
Summary
Water is an integral natural component of any ecosystem as well as a social and economic good [1, 2]. Due to limited capacity and the prohibitive cost of treatment chemicals, water treatment utilities and municipalities, especially in developing countries, struggle to provide water for domestic use. This is severe in rapidly growing informal settlements and peri-urban areas. River Basin Management - Sustainability Issues and Planning Strategies the quality of raw water sources [3–5]. This has mainly been attributed to anthropogenic factors [6] such as rapid urbanisation, industrial waste [7], population growth, and climate change among others. Failure to incorporate water quality data in water resource management and infrastructure planning challenges the ability of decision makers to respond to the increasing economic and social demands of associated use and consumption of poor-quality water
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