Toxicologia Ambiental e Analítica

Physico-Chemical Analysis of Drinking Water Quality of Arbaminch Town

Abstract

Amanial Haile Reda

In this study drinking water samples were collected from three sites of Arbaminch town and have been analyzed for some physico-chemical parameters like pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), total solids (TS), total alkalinity (TA), total hardness (TH), chloride (Cl-) and fluoride (F-). The result showed that pH, EC, TDS, TSS, TS, TA, TH, Cl- and F- ranged from 7.13 to 7.76, 210.0 to 230.5 μScm-1, 134.4 to 147.1 mg/L, 11.22 to 15.44 mg/L, 145.62 to 262.45 mg/L, 88.6 to 182.02 mg/L, 119.2 to 135.11 mg/L, 135.22 to 554.46 mg/L and 2.0 to 4.41 mg/L respectively. All the measured parameters were within the standard drinking water quality values of WHO except Cl- content in AMU sampling site and F- in all sampling sites. The level of Cl- in Secha and Sikela sampling sites were within the standard value of WHO (500 mg/L). But the level of Cl- was found beyond the standard value of WHO in AMU sampling site. Similarly the concentration of F- was found higher than the standard limit value of WHO (1.5 mg/L) in all sampling sites but within the maximum permissible values of US-EPA (4.0 mg/L) except in the AMU sampling site which is a little bit higher than the US-EPA. In general the present investigation found that the maximum parameters were not at a level of pollution.