Application of geostatistical techniques to assess groundwater quality in the Lower Anayari catchment in Ghana
Dickson Abdul-Wahab,
Abass Gibrilla,
Dickson Adomako,
Dennis K. Adotey,
Samuel Ganyaglo,
Cynthia Laar,
Nafisatu Zakaria,
Geophrey Anornu
Affiliations
Dickson Abdul-Wahab
Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana; Corresponding author.
Abass Gibrilla
Nuclear Chemistry and Environmental Research Centre, National Nuclear Research Institute, GAEC, Box LG 80, Kwabenya-Accra, Ghana; Department of Water Resources and Sustainable Development, School of Sustainable Development, University of Environment and Sustainable Development, Somanya, Ghana
Dickson Adomako
Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana; Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute, GAEC, Box LG 80, Kwabenya-Accra, Ghana
Dennis K. Adotey
Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana
Samuel Ganyaglo
Nuclear Chemistry and Environmental Research Centre, National Nuclear Research Institute, GAEC, Box LG 80, Kwabenya-Accra, Ghana
Cynthia Laar
Nuclear Chemistry and Environmental Research Centre, National Nuclear Research Institute, GAEC, Box LG 80, Kwabenya-Accra, Ghana
Nafisatu Zakaria
Nuclear Chemistry and Environmental Research Centre, National Nuclear Research Institute, GAEC, Box LG 80, Kwabenya-Accra, Ghana
Geophrey Anornu
Department of Civil Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Private mailbag, University Post office, Kumasi, Ghana
In this study, integrated geostatistical techniques were applied to appraise the groundwater quality for various purposes in the Lower Anayari Catchment (LAC), Ghana. Physico-chemical and trace metals were analysed for 41 groundwater samples. Groundwater in LAC was generally found to be moderately hard to fresh and the information entropy-based groundwater quality index (IEGQI) ranked approximately 80.49% of the groundwater as excellent. Partial Least square regression analysis suggests that PO43−, As, Cd and Fe are important parameters for the prediction of IEGQI values. The irrigation water quality index (IWQI) suggest that 2.44% of groundwater in LAC is suitable for moderate permeability soils, 65.85% for moderate to high permeability soils and 31.71% for moderate to high salt tolerance plants. The LSI and RSI indices rate groundwater in LAC to be aggressive water with a high probability of being corrosive to metals, depending on the levels of dissolved oxygen present.
