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Evaluation of Groundwater Quality Assessment and Modelling

Oriaku Nzubechi Augustine

Abstract

Water is essential for growing food., for household water uses including drinking, cooling, sanitation., as a critical input into industry, for tourism and cultural purposes., and for its role in sustaining the earth’s ecosystem (Mark et al., 2002). In addition to water value for direct human consumption, it is integrally linked to the provision and quality of ecosystems service. Domestic water is used for drinking, cooking, bathing and cleaning. In Nigeria, inadequate supply of pipe borne water is a major concern; hence many homes have wells as a source of water for household uses. The groundwater of forty wells in onuimo market was assessed for Total Aerobic Bacteria Counts (TABC) and Total Coliform Counts (TCC). The location and distances of wells from septic tanks were determine using the Global Positioning System (GPS) device and a tape rule respectively. All the wells sampled had high TABC(4.76±1.41 log CFU/mL) and TCC (2.29±0.67 log CFU/mL) counts which exceeded the international standard of 0 per100 mL of potable water. There were no significant differences in the bacterial counts between covered and uncovered wells (p > 0.05). The mean distance (8.93±3.61m) of wells from the septic tanks was below the limit (15.24 m or 50 ft) set by United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). TABC increased with a decrease in distance between the wells and septic tanks though not significant (p < 0.05) A very weak positive correlation (r2=0.021) ensued between the distance from septic tank and CC, while a weak negative correlation (r2 = ?0.261) was obtained between the TCC and TABC. This research accentuates the need to set standards for the siting of wells from septic tanks while considering all possible sources of well contamination as well as treatment of ground water before use.

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