Spatial Variation of Water Quality in the Densu River Basin, Nsawam-Adoagyiri Municipality, Ghana

Abstract

The Nsawam-Adoagyiri Municipality stretch of the Densu River Basin serves a population of 86,000 and flows into major river basins in parts of Accra. The study assesses the spatial variability of the physico-chemical quality of the Densu River Basin at seven selected points with reference to WHO guideline standards. Water samples were collected and analyzed from November 2015 to June 2016 to ascertain the variations in water quality parameters with respect to physicochemical parameters and selected heavy metals. Analysis of water quality showed electrical conductivity of 214.00µs/cm - 369.00µs/cm, total dissolved solids 235 to 658 mg/l, exceeding the WHO guideline values at some sampling locations. Heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and iron indicated that at some locations exceeded the WHO guideline limits while copper, manganese and mercury concentrations where found to be within  threshold at all locations during the period.

Keywords: anthropogenic, densu river, spatial variation, water quality

DOI: 10.7176/JEES/9-10-10

Publication date:October 31^st 2019