Evaluation of the microbiological and physicochemical quality of borehole water in the Offinso District of Ashanti Region
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Date
2010-08-11
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Abstract
The quality of borehole water from seven administrative town councils namely Asuoso (AS), Akenkaasu (AK), Samproso (SA), Abofour (AB), Offinso (OF), Afrancho (AF) and Bonsua (BO) in the Offinso District of Ashanti region were analysed from January 2007 to June 2007. Water samples were collected from thirty-five boreholes comprising five boreholes in each town council and analysed for temperature, pH, colour, turbidity, conductivity, total dissolved solids, alkalinity, hardness and some selected anions PO3-4, NO2-,SO2-4) some heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Zn, Mn and Pb), total and faecal coliforms. From the results, pH of the water was slightly acidic (5.03-6.53) and was unaffected by the seasonal variation. The water was moderately soft to slightly hard (12.8-226.80mg/l CaCO3). The nutrient loads observed in the water were slightly low and fell within the WHO standards. There were isolated cases of cadmium contamination at Asuoso (AS), Abofour (AB) and Bonsua (BO) recording 0.00198, 0.00124, 0.00158 and 0.00164, respectively. With the exception of pH, all the other parameters analysed were influenced by seasonal variations. There was a general increase in all the parameters during the wet season with turbidity, conductivity and total dissolved solids recording high values. The mean total coliforms ranged between 10 and 20CFU/100ml while all the samples analyzed recorded zero for faecal coliforms. The results suggest that borehole water sources in the Offinso district were of acceptable quality.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology and Environmental Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the
degree of
Master of Science in Environmental Science, 2010