Assessing the Water Supply Potential of Boreholes on Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Campus
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Date
2013-12-17
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Abstract
There have been major expansions on the Kumasi water supply system all in the bid to meet the demand of its ever-growing population. However, many places in the metropolis still continue to experience interrupted water supply and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) even though it is a priority area, continues to experience water shortages. In a bid to cover these shortages, colleges, departments, hostels etc. have drilled boreholes to make up for the shortages. As a result, many boreholes are dotted over the university campus serving the needs of individual departments and hostels. This project seeks to assess the groundwater potential of KNUST to see if all the boreholes could be integrated into a system of water supply for the university community. Mapping of all boreholes (with coordinates and some characteristics such as yield and depth) on campus has been done. The daily water demand for the university has been estimated to be 3000 .The potential of all the boreholes drilled on campus has been assessed to be 2220 when pumping for 18 hours a day. The water quality of the water from the boreholes has been analysed and the results show that, there are no major health concerns from the existing boreholes in terms of iron, lead, manganese, arsenic and fluoride. However, total coliform was found to be present and the pH values show the water was slightly acidic and would pose some health risks to consumers. Therefore the water from the boreholes requires a limited amount of treatment in respect of disinfection and pH correction. Since the boreholes on the university campus have the potential of meeting about 74 % of the university’s total demand, it is recommended that a conscious effort be made to bring all the borehole water to a point where quality improvement can be done before its distribution to the whole university community.
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A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Civil Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation,