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Groundwater quality assessment in the Northern and Upper East Regions of Ghana

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Abstract

Groundwater is a major source of drinking-water supply in most developing countries including Ghana. Groundwater samples were collected from boreholes from fifty-seven (57) communities in the Northern and Upper East regions of Ghana between October 2016 and March 2017. Physico-chemical parameters and heavy metals, such as Fe, As, Cd, Pb, Mn, and Zn, were determined to evaluate the chemical status and pollution levels of the groundwater sources. The results showed that temperature, total suspended solids, and fluoride ion in groundwater from both regions have most of their values fall above the World Health Organisation (WHO) acceptable values. The heavy metals results show that Fe, Cd, and As from both regions have values above the WHO acceptable limits for drinking water. The principal component analysis reveals dissolved chemical constituents, dissolution of salts from atmospheric precipitation, and anthropogenic activity as the main sources of the measured parameters within the study area. Single-factor analysis of variance analysis indicated significant differences in data sets within and between the detected parameters. The water quality index (WQI) results showed that 96.30 and 44.80% of groundwater sources in the Northern and Upper East regions, respectively, were poor in quality and hence unsuitable for drinking. Moreover, a significant positive correlation of WQI with As, Cd, and Fe indicates that As, Cd, and Fe have a significant impact on the groundwater quality. The degree of contamination, heavy metal evaluation indices, and heavy metal pollution indices showed that most of the groundwater sources were extremely contaminated. The health risk assessments for As, Pb, and Cd as well as, Cd, and Zn showed HQ > 1 in some of the groundwater sources in the Northern and Upper East regions, respectively, in some of the groundwater sources. The carcinogenic risk for As and Pb exceeded the acceptable limit of 10−6. Hence, it can be concluded that adequate treatment regime is required for safe use of groundwater from the Northern and Upper East regions of Ghana.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to the National Council for Tertiary Education (NTCE), Ghana for a research Grant under the Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund (TALIFKNUSTR/3/005/2005). We also want to acknowledge DR. D. D. Wemengah of the Department of Physics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, for drawing the geological maps of the two regions.

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    Noah K. Asare-Donkor & Anthony A. Adimado

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Asare-Donkor, N.K., Adimado, A.A. Groundwater quality assessment in the Northern and Upper East Regions of Ghana. Environ Earth Sci 79, 205 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-08956-x

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