article · Sustainable Environment
An assessment of spring water quality was conducted across low, middle, and high altitude areas in the Ankober district during dry, semi-dry, and wet seasons in 2015. Testing examined bacteriological indicators alongside numerous physicochemical parameters to evaluate suitability for domestic consumption. The findings indicate that spring water in the region is broadly safe for domestic use, adhering mostly to national and World Health Organization standards. However, specific quality concerns were identified primarily at lower altitudes. These issues include elevated total and faecal coliforms and fluoride during the dry season, elevated magnesium in the semi-dry season, and high potassium across all seasons. Additionally, iron levels exceeded established thresholds in the majority of tested samples.
Access to uncontaminated drinking water is essential for human health and community wellbeing. As surface water becomes increasingly polluted, communities depend more heavily on groundwater. Identifying local contaminants such as elevated iron and bacterial indicators helps public health officials recognise where water treatments or protective interventions are urgently needed to ensure safety.
This research is an early-stage environmental assessment that could inform local water utility planners, municipal engineers, and water treatment providers. The data highlights specific filtration needs, notably for iron reduction and low-altitude bacterial disinfection, but the abstract does not indicate a direct commercial application or technology pathway.
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Clean, safe and adequate freshwater is vital to the survival of all living organisms and smooth functioning of ecosystems, communities and economies. Surface water is becoming highly susceptible to pollution, and the trend of production of groundwater for various purposes has been increased from time to time. Groundwater will also be vulnerable to contamination by natural processes and anthropogenic disturbances and, thus, deserves appropriate attention and action. In the present study, spring water samples were collected from the Ankober district in low-, middle- and high-altitude areas in dry, semi-dry and wet seasons in 2015. Bacteriological (total coliform [TC] and fecal coliform [FC]) and physicochemical parameters such as temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, salinity, total alkalinity (TA), total hardness (TH), Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe2+, Mn2+, Cl−, SO42−, CO32−, HCO3−, NO3− and F− were analyzed to assess its suitability for domestic purposes. The results of the study showed that most of the parameters were found to be within the safe limit values of the WHO and Ethiopian standards for drinking water except some values at the lowest attitude area: TC/FC (147/1 per 100 ml) and F− (1.68 mg/L) in the dry season, Mg2+ (52.1 mg/L) in the semi-dry season and K+ (1.59–51.15 mg/L) in all three seasons. Furthermore, the values of Fe2+ (0.448–1.005 mg/L) were above the limit in most of the samples. Generally, spring water in the assessed areas is safe for domestic applications with slight variability in the low-altitude area. For sustainable use, vulnerability mapping and awareness creation are strongly recommended.
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DOI: 10.1080/23311843.2020.1791461
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