Using the Hydrogen Sulfide Method in the Assessment of Microbial Quality of Drinking Water for Selected Communities of the Ho West District of the Volta Region of Ghana

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
October, 2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The Ho West District is one of the twenty-five (25) Districts in the Volta Region that lacks basic amenities including potable drinking water and thus residents are infected with various water related illnesses. The study was aimed at assessing the potential of using simple, reliable and inexpensive method that can be performed by the ordinary man in a rural area where people are compelled to drink highly contaminated water. One such method, the H2S test, was used to assess the microbial quality of drinking water from nine (9) selected communities of the District. The test was conducted alongside standard Presence/Absence and membrane filtration methods. All (54) test samples developed black precipitate (FeS) within the predetermined period of 72 hours, indicating that they contained bacteria of faecal origin. In terms of seasonal variation, there was significant (P ≤ 0.05) difference in the colour development time for the rainy and dry season samples. Also there was significant (P ≤ 0.05) difference in the E. coli counts for the rainy and dry season samples of all the communities except Vane, Tsikor and Kpoeta where the counts were not significantly (P > 0.05) different. The difference in colour development time for source and distribution samples was also significant (P < 0.05). There was also significant (P < 0.05) difference in the E. coli counts for distribution and source samples of all the communities except for Vane and Kpedze where the counts were not significantly (P > 0.05) different. The results of this study were conclusive evidence that the water supplies in all the communities under the study pose a serious threat to the health of consumers.
Description
A Thesis submitted to the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Master of Science Degree in Environmental Science,
Keywords
Citation