ISSN: 2642-6250
Authors: Baraka A*, Ogweyo G, Njung’e I and E Abuto
Drinking water is a very essential part of every living being. Due to shortage of tap water for many households in Kenya, Borehole has become one of the main sources of water, which offers support to human health, diversity in the ecosystem and economic growth. Water quality is essential for policy formulation affecting health. This is due to the fact that, ground water resources are commonly vulnerable to pollution which degrades their quality. Some of the toxicological effect that have been reported of drinking polluted water include cancer, genetic aberrations among other ailments due to borehole minerals and metals. In this study, borehole water quality analysis involved determining the levels of Total dissolved solids (TDS), Electrical conductivity (EC), Oxidation-Reduction potential, and pH to aid in monitoring borehole water data. This was compared against the standards set by W.H.O, who have created water quality guidelines which provides a Limit Value for each parameter for drinking water. It is crucial that a continuous monitoring of water quality is done at regular periods due to global changes in population, increased pollution and use of river waters resulting in the consumption of contaminated drinking water. Many people suffer from varied water borne diseases hence the great interest in having details about various physico-chemical parameters such TDS, EC, ORP, salinity and pH determined. The samples collected were analyzed. The average PH was 5.25 which is not fit to be consumed thus posing a risk to humanity. The electrical conductivity was averagely 113μS/cm. The TDS level was averagely 56.5 ppm. The average ORP was 376.8 mV. There was a variation in the samples collected depending with the season. By use of standard analytical methods, the research investigated the variation of pH, EC, ORP, TDS and salinity which is a good indicator of water quality. WHO has asserted that, the safest water should be of lower conductivity of 200 to 800 μS/cm, ORP of -50 millivolts, TDS of 300 parts per million (ppm) and pH of 6.5-8.5. The study has thus compared the levels against the above standards and also presented the correlation between the parameters in addition to showing the seasonal variations of the above physical –chemical parameters.
Keywords: Electrical Conductivity; Total Dissolved Salts; Water; ORP; Bore Hole
