The Quality of Water in Goo Reservoir and a Water Supply Well in Navrongo, Kassena Nankana Municipality of Upper East Region of Ghana
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Date
2015-02-13
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Abstract
The study was conducted to assess the quality of water in GOO reservoir and vegetables irrigated at the site as well as a water supply well located close by. The reservoir and water supply well are close to each other and located in Navrongo, the capital of the Kassena Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region of Ghana. Water quality was based on physicochemical parameters, concentration of heavy metals and microbial analysis of samples collected from the reservoir and water supply well.
Generally, many of the physicochemical parameters analyzed were well within the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) and standards values for drinking water quality. Total dissolved solids ranged from 167 to 172 averaging 16.9 mg/l from a total of four mean values, with conductivity ranging from 280 to 295 with an average of 286 μS/cm. Sulphate ranged from 16.9 to 30.5 mg/l averaging 21 mg/l and pH ranged from 7.0 to 7.4 averaging 7.1 with nitrate-nitrogen ranging from 2.9 to 13.2 with an average of 7.7 mg/l. Turbidity of the water ranged from 506 to 704 averaging 589 NTU while iron concentration ranged from 3 to 6.9 averaging 4.7 mg/l and manganese ranged from 0.8 to 2.2 averaging 1.4 mg/l. However, zinc concentrations were low and that of copper and lead were below detection limits of 0.020 and 0.005 respectively. The microbial loads of the water from the reservoir and that of the lettuce and garden eggs were very high. Total coliform in water from the reservoir ranged from 120,268 to 272,871 /100ml averaging196,310/100ml. Faecal coliform on the other hand ranged from 258 to 125,000 averaging 62,440 /100ml. Total coliform in the lettuce and garden eggs are 155,291 and 465,199 CFU/g respectively and that of faecal coliform is 95,021and 130,062 CFU/g. The water from the water supply well was free of total and faecal coliforms as well as having low turbidity of 1 NTU and very low heavy metals concentration except manganese.
The level of microbial pollution of the reservoir was very high and therefore makes it a potential source of contaminating the vegetables. The water from the water supply well is generally safe for consumption based on the Ghana Standards Board standards for drinking water.
Key words: storm runoff, water quality, heavy metal pollution, coliforms, Goo reservoir, and water supply well.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the Department Of Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science And Technology, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Master Of Science Degree in Environmental Resources Management,