TITLE:
Quality Assessment of River Offin along a Canopy Cover Gradient
AUTHORS:
Janice Dwomoh Abraham, Isaac Fosu, Daniel Agyapong, Kwame Nkrumah Hope, John Abraham
KEYWORDS:
Water Quality, Watershed, Farming, Runoff Water, Canopy Cover
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Water Resource and Protection,
Vol.8 No.3,
March
24,
2016
ABSTRACT: The potential
effect of canopy cover on the quality of River Offin which serves as drinking water
for communities including Hwediem, Mprim and Boanim in the Mampong Municipality
of the Ashanti region of Ghana was studied. These communities exemplify Ghanaian
farming communities. Often, rural farmers do not have access to clean water. Using
the part of the river serving these communities as a test case, we assessed the
quality of water along a gradient of three different levels of canopy cover (closed,
semi-closed and open canopy) where residents frequently access water. Physico-chemical
tests showed that, the level of most of the physical and chemical properties of
the water under all three different canopy covers was within the acceptable limits
set by the World Health Organization. There was low turbidity where the canopy was
closed resulting in relatively lower faecal coliforms. Total dissolved solids were
also less where canopy cover was closed. Therefore, the general water quality could
be potentially improved by planting trees along the river to form canopy.