Hydrogeochemical Studies to Assess the Suitability of Groundwater for Drinking and Irrigation Purposes: The Upper East Region of Ghana Case Study

Franklin Obiri-Nyarko (), Stephen Junior Asugre, Sandra Vincentia Asare, Anthony Appiah Duah, Anthony Yaw Karikari, Jolanta Kwiatkowska-Malina and Grzegorz Malina
Additional contact information
Franklin Obiri-Nyarko: Groundwater and Geosciences Division, CSIR Water Research Institute, Accra P.O. Box M 32, Ghana
Stephen Junior Asugre: Surface Water Division, CSIR Water Research Institute, Accra P.O. Box M 32, Ghana
Sandra Vincentia Asare: Groundwater and Geosciences Division, CSIR Water Research Institute, Accra P.O. Box M 32, Ghana
Anthony Appiah Duah: Groundwater and Geosciences Division, CSIR Water Research Institute, Accra P.O. Box M 32, Ghana
Anthony Yaw Karikari: Environmental Chemistry and Sanitation Engineering Division, CSIR Water Research Institute, Accra P.O. Box M 32, Ghana
Jolanta Kwiatkowska-Malina: Department of Spatial Planning and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Geodesy and Cartography, Warsaw University of Technology, Pl Politechniki 1, 00-661 Warsaw, Poland
Grzegorz Malina: Department of Hydrogeology and Engineering, Geology, AGH University of Science and Technology, Al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Krakow, Poland

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-22

Abstract: Groundwater is increasingly being used to help meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2 and 6 in many parts of the world, including Ghana. Against this background, hydrogeochemical and multivariate statistical studies were conducted to determine the physicochemical characteristics and suitability of groundwater in some agrarian communities in the Upper East Region of Ghana for drinking and irrigational farming. Additional analyses were also performed to identify potential health risks associated with the groundwater use and to better understand the hydrogeochemical processes controlling groundwater evolution for its effective management. The results showed that the groundwater is typically fresh; moderate to very hard in character; undersaturated with calcite, dolomite, halite, and gypsum; and supersaturated with quartz and amorphous silica. The physicochemical characteristics of the groundwater are controlled by both anthropogenic and natural activities/processes, such as fertilizer application, irrigation return flows, rock weathering, and forward/reverse cation exchange. The total dissolved solids (TDS) (165–524 mg/L), electrical conductivity (EC) (275–873 μS/cm), sodium percentage (Na%; 9.05–17.74%), magnesium ratios (MR) (29.25–53.3%), permeability index (PI) (36.6–74.6%), and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) (0.20–0.51) point to the possibility of using the groundwater for irrigation, however, with some salinity control. The water quality and health risk analysis also revealed that the groundwater can be used for drinking; however, the high concentrations of fluoride, which can cause noncarcinogenic health issues such as dental and skeletal fluorosis in both adults and children, must be reduced to the WHO required level of 1.5 mg/L.

Keywords: hydrogeochemistry; sustainability; groundwater quality assessment; drinking water; irrigation water; health risk assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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