Assessment of the Quality of Newly Constructed Hand-Dug Well Usetd for Drinking and Their Treatment System at Kenema Town, Kenema District, Eastern, Sierra Leone

Abstract

The tremendous increase in the human population increase the stress on both surface and groundwater and it is believed that at the beginning of human civilization itself, groundwater was the most trusted form of drinking water because of the filtering effect of the aquifer however, in the present world drinking water directly from the source without proper treatment is very tough and risky for the health. Kenema District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone, its capital and largest city is Kenema City, which is the third most populous city in Sierra Leone, after Freetown and Bo Both the physical and chemical Parameters investigated are within the WHO acceptable limits, except one of bioteriological parameters (non- faecal coliform). Tables 1, 3, and 4 show high statistical mean values for the Non-Faecal Coliform bacteria in the hand dug wells. Diema Hand Dug Well (12.00 cfu/100ml), Ansarul Hand Dug Well (11.67 cfu/100ml) and the combined statistical mean value (10.78cfu/100ml) of the Non-Faecal Coliform bacteria and all the values fell out of World Health Organization (WHO) permissible limit. However, Islamic Hand Dug Well has a statistical mean value of 8.67 cfu/100ml of Non-Faecal Coliform Value which is within the WHO permissible limit (<10cfu/100ml). The combined statistical mean value for Diema, Islamic, and Ansarul hand dug well for the following physiochemical parameters (pH 7.14, Turbidity 2.46NTU, Conductivity 196.56, TDS 100.11mg, Ammonia 0.02mg/l, Nitrite 0.02mg/l, Nitrate 0.06mg/l, Phosphate 6.15mg/l, Cadmium 0.00gm/l, Copper 0.02mg/l, Iron 0.03mg/l and Zinc 2.67mg/l) are all within the World Health Organization permissible limits (Table 4). Non-faecal coliforms were discovered in all of the wells and boreholes examined and analyzed in a similar investigation to identify the bacteriological pollution of groundwater sources.