Assessment of drinking water quality in Grand Khartoum City

Dissertant

al-Tingari, Muna Muhammad Bashir

Thesis advisor

Abd al-Majid, Haju Muhammad

University

Omdurman Islamic University

Faculty

Unesco Chair in Water Resources

University Country

Sudan

Degree

Master

Degree Date

2010

English Abstract

The purpose of this study was assessment of drinking water quality in grand Khartoum City for the period July 2006 – Nov 2006. The quality of 40 drinking water samples were collected from different sources and different locations, comprised of twenty treated surface (network) water samples and twenty groundwater samples, in the Grand Khartoum City of Sudan were investigated under laboratory conditions, with respect to electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved salts (TDS), pH, total hardness, the major cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+) and anions (Cl- ,SO42- ,NO3- ,F-, HCO3-) and total iron beside coliform bacteria as an indicator of faecal contamination.

The results obtained revealed that the level of the EC of both treated surface and wells water samples are below the maximum limit set by SSMO, GCCS and SASO standards.

The level of TDS of surface water (network) samples ranged between128- 384 mg/l and therefore, lies within the limits of the local, regional and international standards guidelines while that of wells water samples varied widely, ranged between128 to 1024 mg / l, with a mean of 531 mg / l ; five percent of the samples were above the limits set by SSMO, GCCS and WHO and 45% of the samples were above the limit set by USEPA standard.

The pH value, total hardness and the levels of the major cations and anions (with the exception of Na+, NO3- and F-) comply with the maximum permissible drinking water limits set by the local, regional and international standards.

The results of Na+ concentration (30- 220 mg / l), mean 91.0 mg / l, revealed that 5% of the samples (well water) exceed the SSMO, GCCS and WHO standard limits, 15% of the samples were above the limit set by EEC standards.

Nitrate concentrations ( 0.0- 66.0 mg / l), mean 5.0 mg/l, revealed that 5% of the samples (well water) were above each of the 45 mg/l and the 50 mg/l limits set by the local, regional and international standards.

The level of F- in drinking water ranged between 0.2 and 1.2 mg/l is alarming since 40% of the samples (well water) were below the lower permissible limit of 0.6 mg / l set by SASO & GCCS.

Microbiological analyses indicate that 25% of the samples (treated surface water) and 45 % of the samples (well water) were contaminated with coliform bacteria which indicate that faecal contamination is evident.

The results obtained in this study indicate that the quality of drinking water in grand Khartoum city is vulnerable to microbial pollution, therefore, it is recommended that the distribution system must be penodically cleaned, regularly disinfected with chlorine to remove any public health hazards concern related to water quality.

Main Subjects

Civil Engineering

Topics

• Drinking water
• Sudan
• Khartoum

No. of Pages

65

Table of Contents

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

Language

English

Data Type

Arab Theses

Record ID

BIM-362418