Qualite Chimique Des Eaux De Consommation Des Populations De La Ville De Soubre (Sud-Ouest, Cote D’ivoire).

Abstract

To assess the chemical quality of drinking water in Soubré, Côte d'Ivoire, ten sampling areas have been selected; they include seven traditional groundwater wells, two points on the Sassandra river, and one from tap water. During the study, two sampling campaigns followed by lab analyses were conducted at different annual seasons; one in dry season (March 2016) and the other in rainy season (July 2016). In total, twenty-five (25) parameters, including five physical and twenty chemical parameters were measured. A careful analysis of the measured parameters revealed that the waters are characterized by a near neutral pH, and are moderately mineralized with temperatures above 25°C. Specifically, the concentration levels of sodium, potassium, and orthophosphate, as well as those of nitrate and ammonium were very high exceeding sometimes the WHO drinking water standards. Heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium and lead were also detected in the waters. Their concentration levels were mostly higher than the WHO standards, confirming a visible vulnerability of the investigated waters. From our investigation, the well water samples were the most contaminated sources; that contamination was attributed to many factors such as household sewage wastewater infiltration into the subsurface aquifer, mismanagement and mishandling of households wastes around groundwater wells, and failure of the population to respect the minimum conventional pit-latrine distance of 15 meters.