Assessment of water quality of Barekese dam from point of production to supply areas in Kumasi

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2013-12-16
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Drinking water quality is very essential for good health. Water was sampled from four (4) booster stations namely; Achiase, Buokrom, KNUST and Tafo. Three areas each were selected from the Achiase (Asokwa, Atonsu and Asafo) and KNUST (Boadi, Kentinkrono and Oduom) booster station supply areas from December, 2011 to March, 2012. They were analysed for various physicochemical parameters and bacteriological indicators using the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard methods. Physical parameters such as pH, turbidity, colour, free and total chlorine were found to be within the WHO acceptable limits except free chlorine and temperature. All the water samples showed temperature and free chlorine above the WHO standards. The temperatures were slightly above by about 0.4oC and free chlorine was below the acceptable range from 0.2 mgL-1 – 0.5 mgL-1. The Barekese untreated water showed Temperature 26.9 oC, pH 9.1, Turbidity 31.8 FTU, colour 16.9 Hz, free and total chlorine 0.22 mg/L and 0.27 mg/L respectively, total and faecal coliforms 16 x 106 MPN/100 mL and 39 x 103 MPN/100 mL respectively and E. coli (10 MPN/100 mL), comparatively higher than the acceptable limits. The microbial quality of the untreated water is poor, rendering it unsafe for domestic purposes without prior treatment however that of the treated water samples were fairly good; the total coliforms were within the WHO limit (10 MPN/100 mL) but faecal coliforms and E. coli counts were slightly above the standard (0 MPN/100 mL). KNUST supply areas showed there is no significant difference but the Achiase supply areas showed a reverse because of leakages and breakages of some of the pipelines which supply various homes. This work disclosed that the level of water quality of the Barekese dam from point of production to final consumption is appreciable.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Science.
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