Assessment of Effect of Leachate on Well Water Quality at Atonsu Dompoase Landfill Site

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2013-04-20
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Globally, safe drinking water is important and is fundamental to health, survival, and growth. Well water sources are treated and managed for safe use in developed countries like Germany whiles in developing countries like Ghana well water is assumed to be free from all pathogenic organisms and consumed without prior treatment. Only a small proportion of the populace have access to treated piped water across the globe including Ghana of which residents of Atonsu Dompoase is of no exception. The closeness of a landfill facility to well water sources have a potential of infiltrating the water and causing health related problems like cholera, skin rashes and diarrhoea as alluded to by residents of Atonsu Dompoase. The objective of this research was to assess the possible effect of leachate percolation on well water quality at Atonsu Dompoase Landfill Site. Concentrations of various physico-chemcial parameters including heavy metal elements (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn) and microbiological parameters (total coliform, TC and faecal coliform, FC) were established in both leachate and well water samples. The effect of distance of wells from the Atonsu Dompoase Landfill was also investigated. Leachate and well water samples were collected from Atonsu Dompoase Landfil Site and Atonsu Dompoase community, respectively. Results were subjected to statistical evaluation using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The ANOVA was conducted with the Genstat software. All analyses were conducted at a significance level of 5 %. TC and FC counts; pH and electrical conductivity (EC) were significantly higher in well water samples collected from Atonsu Dompoase vicinity than the Ghana EPA/GSB standards and are of great concern to public health when the water from these wells is consumed without prior treatment.
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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, April-2013
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