TITLE:
Water Quality Monitoring in the Pra Basin of Ghana
AUTHORS:
Albert Ebo Duncan, Samuel Barnie, Martha Osei-Marfo, Samuel Nketia Boateng, George Acquaah, Gertrude Oboh
KEYWORDS:
Water Quality, Monitoring, Contamination, Enrichment, Pollution
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.10 No.5,
May
29,
2023
ABSTRACT: This study is a water quality monitoring of physicochemical and metals of potential toxicity in the Pra Basin of Ghana. Four samples were collected from each of the eight sampling sites from upstream to downstream of the basin. Six major physicochemical parameters namely pH, turbidity, nitrates, phosphate, Chemical Oxygen Demand, and Biological Oxygen Demand were monitored. Four metals of potential toxicity namely arsenic (As), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), and iron (Fe) were also monitored. The measured pH, phosphate, and nitrates were all within the permissible level in all the sites studied. The turbidity, COD, and BOD were all above the permissible level in all the sites. Among the eight sites under study, only Barekese did not exceed the permissible level of the metals of potential toxicity. Arsenic concentration exceeded the permissible limit for all the sites except Barekese. All the sites recorded manganese concentration above the permissible level except Barekese and Brenase. Aside from Shamaa and Barekese, all the sites recorded lead concentrations above the permissible level. The Igeo in the study area is in the range of “uncontaminated” to “moderately” to “strongly” contaminated. Regarding manganese and arsenic enrichment, only Brenase was enriched with arsenic. Dunkwa, Akim, and Deboase were the only sites enriched with lead. The pollution load index indicates that none of the sites was polluted by any of the metals. Arsenic is the only metal that measured extreme contamination among the metals studied. The contamination factor of the metals is in the order arsenic > lead > manganese > iron. Dunkwa, Barekese, Adiembra, Deboase, and Shamaa all recorded low ecological risk for arsenic whereas Praso