Assessment of the Quality of Drinking Water Sources in Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia

Abstract

This research investigates the quality of water supplied to Bahir Dar city, Ethiopia. The city gets water from 3 springs and 12 dug wells. Fifteen samples were collected from these water sources in the dry and wet seasons and examined according to standard procedures to determine their physicochemical and bacteriological qualities. The mean values of physicochemical parameters (dry and wet seasons) measured include: temperature (26.047 ± 0.71°C and 20.527 ± 0.586°C), pH (7.03 ± 0.58 and 7.13 ± 0.476), electrical conductivity (197 ± 53.78 and 119.144 ± 35.85 μs/cm), total dissolved solid (129.67 ± 34.87 and 70.97 ± 21.48 mg/L), fluoride (0.54 ± 0.263 and 0.21 ± 0.108 mg/L), phosphate (0.544 ± 0.214 and 0.47 ± 0.292 mg/L), nitrate ions (3.16 ± 0.897 and 3.12 ± 1.278 mg/L), total alkalinity (119.22 ± 41.254 and 127.49 ± 32.829 mg/L as CaCO 3 ), and total hardness (47.6 ± 20.797 and 41.47 ± 24.46 mg/L as CaCO 3 ) were safe and within the range of WHO and Ethiopian acceptable drinking water quality standards. The mean turbidity (3.37 ± 3.27 NTU) in the dry season was in the permissible limit of Ethiopia and WHO, but the mean turbidity in the wet season (6.88 ± 2.67 NTU) was above the drinking water guideline of WHO and Ethiopia. The bacteriological analyses of mean fecal coliform (10.6 ± 10.01 and 3.2 ± 2.344 CFU/100 mL) and total coliforms (56.8 ± 74.08 CFU/100 mL, too numerous to count CFU/100 mL) in the dry and wet seasons were beyond the WHO and Ethiopian permissible limit. This indicates that the water sources are not safe and consumers are at risk. Therefore, the water sources require treatment before it is distributed to the consumers.