Groundwater quality assessment using statistical approach and water quality index in Ejisu-Juaben Municipality, Ghana

Groundwater represents a significant source of fresh water for drinking purposes and, therefore, preserving its availability and quality is extremely important. The hydrochemical characteristics and quality of groundwater in Ejisu-Juaben Municipality, Ghana have been evaluated based on different indices for assessing groundwater for drinking purposes. A total of 19 groundwater samples were collected and analyzed for major cations and anions using standard methods. The results show that the groundwater parameters were within the permissible limits of the World Health Organization except phosphate. The domination of major ions was in the order of Ca2+ > Mg2+ > NH4+ for cations and Cl- > HCO3- > SO42- > PO42- > NO3- > NO2- in anions. The hydrochemical analysis suggest that the dominant ions were derived from ion exchange and silicate weathering process. According to Gibbs plot, the predominant samples fall in the rock-water interaction and precipitation dominance field. The R-mode factor analysis shows that the four factors extracted account for 83.9 % of the total variance. Groundwater quality index reveals that the majority of the samples falls under good to excellent category of water, suggesting that the groundwater is suitable for drinking and other domestic uses.