Impact of Untreated Liquid Waste Disposal on Water Quality in a Tropical Region

The discharge of untreated liquid waste into the River Atta-dea makes its assessment of water quality
indicators necessary with its associated human health implications and ecological management. Our
study was therefore carried out to investigate the influence of untreated liquid waste on the physicochemical
and microbiological parameters of the Atta-dea stream under different seasons in the Brong
Ahafo Region of Ghana. Water samples were collected from the untreated liquid waste water, and the
stream water at three different locations namely: top-stream, mid-stream, and down-stream. Water
quality indicators were determined at the laboratory to assess the concentrations of parameters such
as pH, turbidity, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, total coliform and
Escherichia coli. Our results revealed significantly (p < 0.05) high level of pollution of physicochemical
properties and microbiological parameters at the midstream, downstream and waste water sampling
locations. The midstream and downstream that had direct influence with the waste water generally
recorded higher mean levels of total coliform (730 ± 1.41 and 740 ± 2.82), E. coli (38 ± 1.41 and 25 ±
2.82), TSS (109 ± 2.82 and 43 ± 0) respectively and lower level of DO at the midstream (4 ± 0) in the
rainy season than Upstream (control) which were generally within the Environmental Protection
Agency water quality standard. This however, implies that the discharge of untreated domestic liquid
waste into the Atta-dea stream has a significant impact on its water quality and this impact was
recognized across both seasons (rainy and dry), with rainy season experiencing significantly(p < 0.05)
high level of surface water pollution than the dry season.