David Mugendi Kariuki
Abstract
Underground water baseline studies are very instrumental in the provision of data for inventories that would play a critical role in conservation assessments and for future development project monitoring.This study was conducted in Turkana County.The main objectives of this study were to enhance the ...
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Underground water baseline studies are very instrumental in the provision of data for inventories that would play a critical role in conservation assessments and for future development project monitoring.This study was conducted in Turkana County.The main objectives of this study were to enhance the current knowledge and understanding of the water quality of the community boreholes,establish its portability, and provide baseline data that will be very useful to the water quality monitoring agencies. Water samples were collected from randomly selected boreholes in Turkana South Sub-county using fixed volume purge and sample technique and both field measurement and laboratory analysis by use of an Atomic Absorption Spectrometer were used in analysis of selected heavy metals. The sampled boreholes were Sale-yard, Nakukulus, ACS and Lokichanda boreholes. The study established that the levels of heavy metals such as Copper, Magnesium, Barium and Lead were all below the recommended levels by WHO. However, the levels of Iron and Nickel which were above the World Health Organization of 0.3mg/L and 0.2mg/L in the four community boreholes with recordings of (1.17ppm,1.5ppm,0.39ppm,0.3ppm) and (0.27ppm,0.63ppm,0.58ppm,0.37ppm) respectively. In addition, the Turbidity and TDS levels were also above the WHO-recommended levels of 5 NTU and <1000 ppm respectively. The Turbidity readings for the four boreholes were (6,6.3,5.5,4.9) NTUs respectively. The TDS levels for the four boreholes respectively were (1060,1020,1473,1025) ppm which were all above the WHO standard levels. There is a need to treat this water before consumption and perpetually monitor its quality to ensure the safety of the locals.
