Micro-Biological and Physico-Chemical Quality of Well Water: A Case Study of Kasseh in the Dangme East District, Ghana

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2013-03-20
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have for years depended on water from hand dug wells as the main source of drinking water. Unfortunately, water from these sources was not treated before consumption. The research sought to determine the levels of physico-chemical parameters such as pH, temperature, conductivity, turbidity, nitrate, iron and calcium. Levels of total coliforms, faecal coliforms and E-coli were determined as a means of checking bacteriological contamination. Water samples were collected from ten (10) different well with an average depth of eight metres (8m) from the study area. The samples were stored in an ice box and transported to the microbiological laboratory at Ghana Atomic Energy Commission for analysis for both physico-chemical parameters and microbial contamination. The data showed variation of the investigated parameters in samples as follows: pH, 6.6–7.1;phosphate 31.4mg/L-46.7mg/L; conductivity (EC), 467–699μS/cm; TDS, 364-439 mg/L; F−, 0.4–0.60 mg/L; NO3 −, 21–42 mg/L; TH 45-92 mg/L; Fe, 0.06–0.3 mg/L; Mn, <0.OOO2 mg/L. All the mean figures recorded falls within the permissible limit of the World Health Organisation except the values for total coliform , faecl coliforms and Escherichia coli that were above the minimum detection limit (MDL) of 20 MP per 100 ml in all the samples. The concentrations of most of the investigated parameters in the drinking water samples from Kasseh in the Dangme East Municipality were within the permissible limits of the Environmental Protection Agency drinking water quality guidelines. This simply means that the wells were biologically contaminated and should not be use as a source of drinking water unless is been treated.
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A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Environmental Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in Partial Fulfillment of the Award of Master of Science in Environmental Science, March-2013
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