Physico-Chemical Studies on the Pollution Level of Stream Bisnit, Gondar, Ethiopia

Abstract

This study was carried out to assess the water quality of Stream Bisnit. The water samples were collected along the stream at five different sampling sites. Sample S1 was collected from the upstream and S5 was collected at the nearby of Keha river where it is the receiver of Bisnit water; the rest of sampling sites S2, S3 and S4 are along the stream in between S1 and S5 sampling sites. The various physico-chemical parameters studied were temperature, pH, Electrical conductivity, BOD₅, PO₄^-3 and NO₃-N. P^H at sampling sites S1(6.4), S2 (6.35) and S3 (6.2) were not in the WHO and Ethiopian EPA surface water permissible Standard but all of the sampling sites temperature records (S1=23, S2=24, S3=24, S4=21 and S5=21) were in the mentioned standard levels, while EC (S1=1703, S2=1719, S3=1777, S4= 1661 and S5=1023), BOD₅ (S1=209, S2=350, S3=447, S4= 258 and S5=164)_, PO₄-3 (S1=12, S2=26, S3=32, S4=19 and S5=6) and NO₃-N (S1=133, S2=154, S3=180, S4=102 and S5=56) in all of the sampling sites were above Ethiopian EPA and WHO standards. Hence it is recommended that the water condition could be maintained by using Best Management Practices or wastewater treatment methods.

Keywords: pollution, water quality, Physico-chemical analysis, degraded ecosystem