Groundwater is increasingly gaining significance as the main solution to the water supply problems in Ghana, especially in the rural areas. This study was conducted to determine which factors play significant roles in the hydrochemistry of groundwater from the southern Voltaian formation. Conventional graphical and multivariate statistical methods were used. The study reveals three main factors controlling the hydrochemistry. Silicate mineral weathering and reverse cation exchange are the most important processes affecting the hydrochemistry of groundwater at this part of the formation. Interpolation maps created from factor scores suggest that these processes are the most pervasive, recording high scores almost everywhere in the study area. Carbonate mineral weathering is the second most important process in the hydrochemistry. This study finds that carbonate mineral weathering in the area is probably facilitated by carbonic acid rather than sulfuric acid. Chemicals from agricultural activities constitute the third most important process influencing groundwater quality in the area. Eighty samples were used to calculate water quality indices, WQI, which were in turn used to classify groundwater from the study area. Over 98% of the samples fall within the ''Excellent'' and ''Good'' categories, suggesting that groundwater from the southern Voltaian formation is generally acceptable for drinking purposes.Keywords Factor scores Á Cation exchange Á Water quality index Á Silicate Á Carbonate
InroductionGroundwater plays a very pivotal role in the domestic water delivery system in Ghana. It is particularly the main water supply for the rural population, which forms about 74% (Ghana Statistical Services 2000) of the total population of the country. There are a number of reasons why groundwater is attractive for most domestic uses: the resource is generally protected from most surface polluting activities and does not need bacteriological treatment prior to consumption; aquifers underlie most of the rural communities and can be tapped at relatively shallow depths; surface water resources are virtually nonexistent in most of these communities and where surface water resources exist, they are often so much polluted that the cost of tapping groundwater is modest compared to the cost of treating surface water resources before usage. In addition to meeting the domestic water needs of the rural population, it has been envisaged that groundwater has the potential of being phased in sufficient quantities to meet irrigation needs to raise the living standards of the communities whose main stay over the years has been rain fed peasant farming.The Voltaian system covers about 45% of the total landmass of Ghana and underlies most of the very deprived communities where the poverty level is worse than the national average. In light of the all important role of groundwater resources in most of the poverty alleviation strategies adopted by the government and many a non
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