Effects of Insanitary Conditions on The Physico Chemical Quality of Underground Water in Select Coastal Communities in Keta

ABSTRACT

Groundwater issues in coastal communities are usually associated with seasonal salinization, due to sea water intrusion and seasonal flooding, however the main objective of this study was to assess the physical and chemical water quality of hand dug wells in Atorkor, Srogbe and Whuti, which are located close to possible contamination sources and further from these contamination sources. Thirty selected hand dug wells in households were used for this study. The uses, dependency, knowledge on possible contamination sources and some aesthetic parameters for water quality were assessed. Important physico chemical water quality parameters namely, pH, temperature, turbidity, TDS, TSS, hardness, conductivity, Nitrate, Phosphate, Sulphate, Calcium and Magnesium were assessed and compared with WHO guideline values for drinking water quality. Results from this study showed that, there were possible contamination sources of groundwater in each of the three communities. The local people depend on groundwater abstracted from hand dug wells for domestic purposes such as cooking, washing, and drinking. The study also found out that they had very little knowledge on possible contamination from the identified sources; this was also confirmed by the fact that, they did not treat water before using it for drinking purposes and the fact that, they did not ensure strict sanitary conditions around well head. Physico chemical water parameters analyzed on hand dug wells all wells in Srogbe, Whuti and Atorkor recorded relatively high concentration of conductivity, turbidity, TDS, TSS, Hardness, Calcium, Magnesium and Phosphates, irrespective of their proximity to potential contamination sources. Nitrates however, were low in all sampling points. Only Phosphate was also particularly high near a specific contamination source. Microbiological analysis, done on some selected wells also showed that irrespective of proximity of contamination sources, microbial contamination II was still evident. Therefore, irrespective of the proximity to potential pollution sources, physico chemical water was not significantly affected.