Assessment of Groundwater Quality for Drinking Purpose in Guya Village Its Surrounding Area, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

This paper assesses the groundwater chemistry and evaluates its quality for drinking use in the area using groundwater chemistry analysis method and compare with International water quality standards in Guya area (157.015 km²) in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Chemical composition of the water varies widely depending up on climate and hydrology in a specific drainage area, which contributes a seasonal influence .Among drainage area, composition is mostly depend on geology. Depth integrated groundwater sampling was applied to collect the water samples from two Bore hole, four springs as well as Three shallow wells.The dominant cations concentration in the area are mainly are Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, Na⁺, K⁺ where the dominant anions are HCO₃^-, CO₃^2-, SO₄^2- and Cl^-.  The groundwater type in the area is generally classified in to Mg-K-HCo3-Cl, K-Ca-HCo3-Cl , K-Na-Mg-HCo3-Cl ,K-Mg-Cl-HCo3, Na-K-Mg-HCo3-Cl,  Na-K-Mg-HCo3 and  K-Na-Mg-HCo3-Cl. Physically and chemically, the groundwater in the area is suitable for drinking purpose but, from hardness point of view ther groundwater need to be soften as far as the drinking purpose is concerned

Keywords: Groundwater, Drinking, Suitability, Quality, Guya, Ethiopia