Water Quality Assessment

In present study, we selected two types of fresh water resources; one is surface water known as Choyyia Nadi (River) and another one is groundwater of the catchment area of Choyyia Nadi. Total number of six sampling locations are identified to perform the current study, out of which three locations for ground water and three for river water. During assessment pH is ranging between a range of 7.9 to 8.07, TDS is 821.33 to 908.33 mg/L and Turbidity is 325.33 to 341.33 NTU. Depending upon the assessment WQI are calculated and found unsuitable for drinking for river water. While in groundwater analysis, parameters are ranging within acceptable limits during the study period with certain heavy metals with BDL, (Below Detectable Limits) except arsenic which is ranging from 0.021 to 0.03 mg/L. With the current groundwater assessment WQI calculated for ground water quality was observed with good quality during the study period.

Water quality is considered as the most important factor in aquaculture production systems affecting fish health and performance.  Water quality can be considered good if it relates to what aquaculture wants and needs to survive and develop, which means that aquacultured farmers must be able to understand the water quality requirements of their cultured products to ensure their fast growth and survival. Different species of fish have different and particular aspects of water quality needs in which they can live, grow and reproduce.[1]–[5] It is, therefore, imperative for fish producers to make sure that the physical and chemical conditions of pond water remain, as much as possible, within the optimum or acceptable range of the fish under culture all the time. Fish may show poor development, erratic behavior, and signs of disease or parasite infestations outside of these acceptable ranges. Fish kill can occur in extreme cases or where poor conditions persist for extended periods of t...

The present study deals with the analysis of physico-chemical parameters of the Song River at
Dehradun (U.K.). In the present study various physico-chemical characteristics of Song River
viz Temperature, pH, Turbidity, TS, TDS, TSS, DO, BOD, COD, FreeCO2, Acidity, Alkalinity,
Hardness, Calcium, Magnesium and Chloride were done. During the course of study only
minor differences in physical and chemical parameters of study area were observed.

Abstract:Aquatic macroinvertebrates play significant role in responding to a variety of environmental conditions of rivers and streams and therefore may be used as bio-indicators for water quality assessment. In the past, biological communities like plankton, periphyton, ...

Current article describes the occurrence, exposure; dose detected in food and human health effects. Many of the cases are identified as the harmful effects of mercury, lead and arsenic on human health, in several parts of the world. Those incidents have prompted numerous investigations into the metabolism and toxic effects of these three elements. This review paper outlines their metabolic factor and describes the major routes of entry and the relative scale of such incidents. Main attention is paid to the environmentally important chemical species of mercury and arsenic, the overall health significance of early biochemical effects and the limitations of certain epidemiological studies.

Water quality is a significant criterion in matching water demand and supply. Securing adequate freshwater quality for both human and ecological needs is thus an important aspect of integrated environmental management and sustainable development. To represent water quality in a lucid way different water quality indices for water quality assessment are used which aim at giving a single value to the water quality of a source reducing great amount of parameters into a simpler expression and enabling easy interpretation of monitoring data. In this review, various water quality indices (WQI) used for assessing surface water quality are discussed. As different National and International Agencies involved in water quality assessment and pollution control defines water quality criteria for different uses of water considering different indicator parameters, so there are numerous WQI specific to any region or area. An attempt to cover different water quality indices developed worldwide, their background and application area has been discussed here. 1. INTRODUCTION Water is the prime natural resource. Acknowledging the vital importance of this scarce resource for human and animal life, as well as for maintaining ecological balance for economic and developmental activities of all kinds is a matter of utmost concern.In recent times, there has been a tremendous increase in demand for freshwater and water shortage in arid and semiarid regions due to population increase, urbanization, industrialization, and intense agricultural activities in many parts of world. Due to inadequate supply of surface waters, most of the people are depending mainly on groundwater resources for drinking and domestic, industrial, and irrigation uses. Innumerable large towns and many cities derive water supply from groundwater and surface water for different uses through municipality network and also from large number of private boreholes. Regular water quality monitoring of the water resources are absolutely necessary to assess the quality of water for ecosystem health and hygiene, industrial use, agricultural use and domestic use.Assessment of water quality can be a complex process undertaking multiple parameters capable of causing various stresses on overall water quality [8]. To evaluate water quality from a large number of samples, each containing concentrations for many parameters is difficult [2]. Traditional approaches to assessing water quality are based on the comparison of experimentally determined parameter values with the existing guidelines [19]. So, water quality indices are such approaches which minimises the data volume to a great extent and simplifies the expression of water quality status. Water quality index can be evaluated on the basis of various physical, chemical and bacteriological parameters. Numerous water quality indices have been formulated all over the world which can easily judge out the overall water quality within a particular area promptly and efficiently. For example, US National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSFWQI), Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCMEWQI), British Columbia Water Quality Index (BCWQI), and Oregon Water Quality Index (OWQI) [1][35][40][63]. These indices are based on the comparison of the water

RESUME Le littoral oranais est de plus en plus agressé de nos jours par toutes les nuisances du monde civilisé: activités industrielles, tourisme intensif et urbanisation massive avec comme corollaire une ampleur sans cesse croissante d'une pollution d'origine domestique. L'objectif de ce travail s'inscrit dans la stratégie de contrôle sanitaire des espaces à usage récréatifs et consiste en une évaluation de la qualité des eaux de baignade par une recherche des germes coliformes, ce qui permet de déterminer l'impact potentiel de la pollution bactérienne au niveau du littoral oranais et d'évaluer l'acceptabilité ou non de la zone à la baignade.

This paper assessed the suitability of water in the Amansie West District in the Ashanti Region of Ghana for irrigation purposes and future planning of clean water resources. Twenty one (21) locations were selected on the major rivers and their tributaries in the district for sampling and the water samples taken at the depth of 15cm from the rivers. The samples were analyzed at Soil Research Institute's Laboratory for irrigation water quality parameters and compared with international water quality standard set for irrigation. All the irrigation water quality parameters, pH, temperature, ECw, TDS, Ca, Mg, Na, K and SAR were within the permissible limit and suitable for irrigation. Heavy metals (Fe, Pb and Cd) levels were all within allowable limits except Mn and Zn. However, further study to examine anions such as bicarbonate and carbonate for irrigation suitability is recommended.

Java economic corridor, outlined in Masterplan of Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia Economic Development 2011-2025 (MP3EI), is aiming for Indonesian economic growth through industry development. Being implemented in action, impacts on water resources sustainability needs to be reviewed. Carrying capacity of water resources was reviewed by analyzing river water quality, regulatory policies and its implementation in Provincial/Regency/City level. Research method was conducted by collecting secondary data, industry amount analysis, and FGD with relevant institutions. This study selected three largest watersheds in Java island, namely Citarum, Bengawan Solo and Brantas. Data shows the dominating industry in Upper Citarum is 75% textile industry and the rest varied from electroplates, chemicals, and others in smaller percentage. Discharge of wastewater has exceeded 4 times to allowable discharge. Dominating industry around Bengawan Solo are textiles 42%, food and beverages 16% and others. Brantas River has variety of industries with uniform percentage. Results showed the policies, regulation and methods of monitoring in district and city level were still inadequate so that almost the entire receiving river quality is very low. Resource and capacity of Provincial and Regency/City Level EPA, as leading institution of river water quality management, still needs significant improvement managing water quality environment.

Ground water quality has become an important water resources issue due to rapid increase of
population, industrialization, unplanned urbanization, flow of pollution from upland to lowland,
and too much use of fertilizers, pesticides in agriculture. In this work, the groundwater quality of
rural area of Haridwar district was studied. The samples were collected from five different rural
areas and analysed with respect of physico-chemical parameters. The quality parameters were
compared with standard permissible limits for drinking water proposed by national and
international government bodies. The results showed that all the water quality parameters were
below the permissible limits at most of the sampling stations. Only the Ca and Mg hardness were
reported higher in concentration at three different sampling location. Risk assessment in respect
of Ca and Mg contents at some groundwater sources indicated that these hand pump water can be
consumed safely by human.

Water quality is considered as the most important factor in aquaculture production systems affecting fish health and performance. Water quality can be considered good if it relates to what aquaculture wants and needs to survive and develop, which means that aquacultured farmers must be able to understand the water quality requirements of their cultured products to ensure their fast growth and survival. Different species of fish have different and particular aspects of water quality needs in which they can live, grow and reproduce.[1]-[5] It is, therefore, imperative for fish producers to make sure that the physical and chemical conditions of pond water remain, as much as possible, within the optimum or acceptable range of the fish under culture all the time. Fish may show poor development, erratic behavior, and signs of disease or parasite infestations outside of these acceptable ranges. Fish kill can occur in extreme cases or where poor conditions persist for extended periods of time.[1], [4], [6]-[8] Using water sampling to monitor water quality takes up time, while laboratory results do not show the current state of water in fish ponds, which is critical information needed by fish farmers. Water quality monitoring in fish ponds should be in real-time, analysis of water parameters must be done as soon as possible to ensure water quality and its acceptability for aquacultured products. The purpose of this study is to develop a system that can monitor water parameters in fish ponds analyze and evaluate these parameters to determine the suitability and survivability rate of aquacultured products base on water quality using machine learning algorithms regression tree and decision tree in accordance with the water quality requirements of cultured products. With the help of Arduino microcontroller device that uses IoT (Internet of Things) technology. By implementing this study, it was found out that the system effectively helps the fish farmers to manage and help maintain the water quality of their fish ponds it minimizes losses due to untimely solutions to water quality problems and promotes a healthy environment which helps increase the growth and survival of aquacultured products. It also increases the fish farmer harvest and income, which creates a positive impact on agricultural productivity in terms of fish farming.

This paper is an examination on how hydration and dehydration impacts the cognitive functioning in learning. Should schools provide water to students to help them in the learning process? How would they accomplish this goal? Not only does dehydration have a negative impact on learning but  c concerns are raised in regards to if children are consuming safe clean water because, like dehydration, contaminated water can also have short and long terms effects on cognition, memory, and concentration.

Water quality is a significant criterion in matching water demand and supply. Ample degree of freshwater is eminent for biological needs are a vital side of integrated environmental management and sustainable development. The quality of water indices estimation endeavour single value which decrease the big quantity of parameters and represent data in a simple way. This review includes various water quality indices (WQI) used in the surface water quality assessment. There are numerous WQI specific for any region because many National and International agencies define water quality criteria for various uses considering various parameters in water quality assessment and pollution control. Different WQI developed; their background and application area has been mentioned here.

Corticolous lichens grow on barks of living host trees. Their ubiquitous distribution and sensitivity to  pollutants makes them ideal model organisms to biomonitor air pollution and assess air quality. But before these lichens can be used as bioindicators, it is imperative that baseline information on their diversity in a given area must be established for comparison. In this study, the diversity of the corticolous lichens was evaluated in two different sites of Romblon State University Main Campus, Odiongan, Romblon. Sampling ladders with 10 x 10 cm contiguous quadrats were used to assess the diversity of corticolous lichens from different tree species within 10 x 10 m plots set-up in the study sites. Results showed that site 2 (LDV= 170.2) showed the highest  lichen diversity values than site 1 (LDV= 117.9). At least nine different species of corticolous lichens were reported in this research study. Our research is one of few studies in the Philippines looking at the application of corticolous lichens in biomonitoring environmental quality.
Keywords: corticolous lichens, species diversity, bioindicator, biomonitoring

All the physical and biological parameters were determined. The temperature of water sample in studied area was between 26.4-28.5, lower than World Health Organisation (WHO) prescribed limit. The pH of the water samples in Northeast Bangalore is in range of 6.5-8.5, which was in accordance to WHO, Bureau for Indian Standard (BIS) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). TDS values in water samples range from 200-820 mg/L. Nine samples showed higher TDS values and TSS values range from 20-400 mg/L. The samples S01, S04, S08, S14, S15, S19, and S20 contain high MPN Index above 50 and S02, S03, S05, S06, S07, S09, S10, S11, S12, S13, S16, S17, and S18 contain low MPN index below 50. BOD and COD values range from 1.2-5.2 mg/l and 8.8-42.1 mg/l respectively. All twenty samples showed higher DO values than the prescribed limit by WHO. But according to BIS and CPCB, S02, S05, were low than their required limit. S11, S15 and S17 were just at 6.0, rest were higher than their required limit. Seven bacterial strains were isolated from the twenty water samples i.e. Escherichia spp., Klebsiella spp., Shigella spp., Yersinia spp. Enterobacter spp., Vibrio spp., and Salmonella spp. The purification and disinfection is to control the bacterial contamination. Water samples from Northeast Bangalore investigated that moderately contaminated. The presence of bacteria in the water is the indication of poor quality of water. According to WHO, BIS and CPCB standards, the water can be used as drinking water with caution.

This manual includes nine key areas of IWRM for Lao PDR which are
1. IWRM Framework
2. Integrated River Basin Management and River Basin Management Planning
3. River Basin Knowledge Development
4. Supporting IWRM and Community Engagement Pilot Project
5. Flood Risks and Disaster Management
6. Project Cycle Management
7. Groundwater Management
8. Collaborative Modelling, and
9. Water Quality Management

Water quality assessment is necessary for management of water resources. As known
environmental processes are very complex . Reflection of this complexity is also seen in water quality
models.Therefore finding efficient and sound models in many cases are very difficult. Water quality class
assessment for inland water bodies in Turkey, is evaluated for each parameters according to the Water
Quality Standards for Inland Waterbodies. This standard is only for a single pollution parameter. In this
study authors tried to express the class of water body with the coverage of overall water qualities measured.
For this aim, fuzzy syntetic evaluation (FSE), and self-organizing map (SOM) are applied for Melen River
and compared with traditional method. FSE and SOM are easy to understand and apply in water quality
assessments for watershed water quality management. The Melen River is in the Marmara region of Turkey
located in north. This river is used for many application like irrigation of the agricultural lands, drinking
water supply and several different industries’ process water, It supplies potable water to Istanbul which is
most densely populated.mega city in Turkey.

Abstract
The paper presents a conceptual framework for using Performance Indicators (PIs) in a Small Island State (Mauritius) for evaluating water network efficiency. This study uses the IWA/AWWA PI-Concept and benchmarking from which the PIs are derived. Findings from this study show that even Small Island States can adopt PIs as tools for improving water network efficiency and ultimately reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW), provided that they are developed to suit the specificities of the water utilities of the island. The research study shows that the NRW is 58.9% using the IWA (International Water Association) water balance table whereas the Infrastructure Leakage Index is 21.9 in the small island state of Mauritius. Both methods reveal that non-revenue water is a matter of concern for the network efficiency in the island.
Keywords: Performance Indicators; Small Island State; Non-Revenue Water

Rapid industrialization affects the environment in different ways by discharging the large amount of effluents as waste water in the surrounding water bodies, causing the serious problems to environment. Water pollution caused by industrial effluent discharges has become a worrisome phenomenon due to its impact on environmental health and safety. The effluents of some industries were collected and samples were analyzed to assess major ionic constituents, trace metal pollution and suitability for irrigation usage. An investigation has been made to ascertain the metals concentration in the effluents samples collected from different industries located in Choto kashor, Bhaluka. This study involves determination of physicochemical parameters and trace metals of industrial effluents at different study points. The pH of the effluent water ranged from 7.5 to 9.8 with a mean value of 8.59 indicating alkalinity of water. EC of all collected effluent samples were within the range of 94.87 to 365.58 +S cm-1 with an average of 263.082 +S cm-1  indicating effluents of low salinity. The DO was within the range of 0.30 to 1.3 mg L-1 indicating that aquatic life is in under stress. Total dissolved solids (TDS) ranged from 53.68 to 267.05 mg/L. Considering TDS, all the samples were rated as fresh water (<1000 mg L-1). On the other hand, the cationic chemistry indicated that most of the samples showed dominance sequence as Na > K > Ca. Concentrations of Cu (0.0405 mg/L) and Pb (0.0003 mg/L) were found lower the allowable levels of industrial waste water. Among the studied trace metals (Cd, Pb, Ni, Cu, and Zn), the dominant metal was Zn and although the concentration varied from 0.2 to 1 mg/L, which are suitable for irrigation but unsafe for the purpose of aquaculture. Besides this, all of the effluent samples possess no Cd and Ni which comprises less the minimum acceptance level indicating there is no possibility of Cd and Ni contamination to harm aquatic organisms along with irrigation. However, the waste water of the study area can be used for irrigation hence it is acceptable considering quality for aquaculture except some sampling sites. High values of some properties of distinct samples reveals the suitability for irrigation but restricted the suitability of water in this area for aquaculture and domestic use. Moreover it demands suitable water management as well as proper treatment and possesses the necessity to pre-treat the wastes prior to release to the environment or fully treatment when the wastes will be discharged directly to surface or ground waters.

The Mara River Basin (MRB) is one of the catchment of the Lake Victoria covering a drainage area of 13,750km2 and form part of the Upper Nile Basin. The Mara River (MR) supply water into the Lake Victoria throughout the year. In the recent years, the basin has undergone tremendous changes and long term monitoring also identified several areas of concern in the upper catchment of the basin. The aim of this study was to develop a framework of rainfall-runoff model application in poorly gauged Basin by integrating with Remote Sensing, GIS and satellite derived dataset. Hydrological modelling is necessary tool for water resource and policy analysis. However studying the complexity of hydrological process and modelling in such catchments is one of challenging area of hydrology.
This study explored the potential of Hydrologic Engineering Centre-Hydrologic Modelling System (HEC-HMS 3.5) in conjunction HEC-GeoHMS extension in ArcMap 9.3 or ArcView as a tool for water management in upper catchment, Mara River Basin. GIS layers that were needed as input data were prepared using ArcMap 9.3. HEC-HMS is a semi-distributed model which focuses on rainfall-runoff processes and simulation were applied on a daily scale. The model was calibrated and validated using the 2005 and 2006 data set respectively. The evaluation of the model was tested statistically employing the correlation coefficient (R2), Relative Error (RE), and Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency Index (EI). The R2 for Nyangores and Amala during calibration and (validation) were 0.53 (0.41) and 0.21 (0.24) respectively where else the EI during calibration and (validation) were 0.93 (0.91) and 17.10 (0.46) for Nyangores and Amala respectively. The model shows great potential in simulating the wet season runoff. The application of HEC-HMS model is considered to be satisfactory for Nyangores sub-catchment but further research is needs to be undertaken to access the results of Amala sub-catchment.
(Key words: Hydrological modelling, HEC-HMS, GIS, MRB, Nash-sutcliffe, rainfall, runoff)

The Nile River quality being the problem concerned with everyone’s health in Egypt. The Nile River is currently facing tremendous pressure due to encroachments, discharge of untreated domestic and industrial waste, dumping of solid waste and illegal diversion of water. The present study aimed to examine the bacterial quality of River Nile water at Assiut region. The current work was done in nine sampling locations distributed over about 120 km stretch at Assiut Governorate around the Nile River, for monitoring the microbial pollution by determination of total bacterial counts as well as bacterial indicators (total Coliform, fecal Coliform, and fecal Streptococci) for river Nile water. Moreover study of some physicochemical parameters during the period from September 2013 to August 2014, in order to evaluate its suitability for the intended purpose. The results showed that all of samples were contaminated with (total Coliforms, fecal Coliforms and fecal streptococci). The physicochemical parameters of the water samples of the most studied locations were in permissible limits of the Egyptian standards for drinking water. The present study observed that the overall water quality of the Nile River in the study area was ranged from marginal to good according to Egyptian lows of the Nile River protection agency.

The accessibility to safe drinking water is essential to prevent water-borne diseases like diarrhea and cholera, thus this study assessed the quality of drinking water sources available to the inhabitant of Chanchaga area, Minna, Niger State. A total of twelve water samples consisting of four boreholes, four wells, and four taps water, including one from Chanchaga water works were collected and analyzed for some physicochemical parameters and heavy metals using standard procedures. The results showed that the average physicochemical properties of tap, well and borehole water samples respectively were pH, 6.60, 6.62 and 6.67, turbidity, 1.58, 3.42 and 3.15 NTU, total suspended solids, 0.03, 0.09 and 0.00 mg/L, total dissolved solids, 0.96, 4.68 and 1.14 mg/L, total solids, 0.99, 4.79 and 1.14mg/L, electrical conductivity, 158.25, 799.25 and 778.25 µЅ/cm, alkalinity, 13.50, 50.00 and 117.50 mg/L, chloride,18.75, 74.00 and 47.25mg/L, total hardness65.50, 227.75 and 149.50 mg/L while the heavy metal concentrations in tap, borehole and well water samples were Cu, 0.02, 0.20 and 0.33 mg/L, Mn, not detected, 0.23 and 0.32, Pb was not detected in all the samples and Fe, 0.21, 3.10 and 2.12 mg/L respectively. All the parameters analyzed were below maximum permissible limits specified by WHO except the total hardness of well water and concentration of Fe in well and borehole water which were above the maximum permissible limits. It can be concluded that the three sources of water at different locations in the study area are safe for human consumption at the time this research was conducted.

Physico-chemical characteristics of groundwater samples around Oleh and environs in southern parts of Delta State Nigeria were investigated in order to access the potability of groundwater, as well as to determine the extent of contamination caused by exploitation of oil and gas within the study area. Ten (10) water samples were collected from hand dug wells tapping the confined and unconfined aquifer of Oleh and environs and analyzed for various parameters, Result shows that physico-chemical parameters such as anions and cations, as well as Fe, Zn, Ni, Cr, Cu and V fell within the approved WHO limits. While the values of Cod, turbidity, Pb and Cd which ranged between 3.35 – 14.3mg/l(mean:7.8), 0.5 – 10.68mg/l(mean:3.3), <0.001 – 0.012mg/l(mean: 0.004) and <0.001 – 0.006mg/l(mean:0.0024) respectively display values higher than the recommended standards of WHO. This suggests that the groundwater samples exhibiting these high values are not potable.  The contour map of the study area revealed that the recharge zones are in the north, south and central portion, which flows towards northeastern and southwestern parts of the study area. The distribution curves for all parameters produced using surfer 8 software indicates that the physico-chemical compositions of groundwater in the study area are generally higher in areas associated with oil field installations. Therefore, since almost all the aquifers in the study area are unconfined and shallow, they are thus vulnerable to contamination in the event of oil pollution.

This paper presents analyzed physico-chemical parameters and assessed ecosystem services of Nzovwe stream. Physico-chemical parameters were analyzed using methods and procedures as prescribed by American Public Health Association and Tanzania Bureau of Standards. Whereas, ecosystem services were assessed qualitatively using households survey questionnaires. In average the water sample from Nzovwe stream had the following measurement; pH was 8.14(±07SD), Temperature 24.7(±0.2SD) 0 C, Turbidity 320(±20SD)NTU, Total alkalinity 202(±2SD)mg/L, Total hardness 58(±8SD)mg/L, Electrical conductivity 540(±20SD)μs/cm, Total suspended solids 314.027(±73.19SD)mg/L and Total dissolved solids 361.8(±13.4SD)mg/L. Field observations revealed that the stream is in danger of being polluted due to human activities (i.e. washing clothes and bathing, cultivation or gardening, irrigations) and dumping of wastes from households. Physico-chemical parameters showed no or little evidence of a stream being polluted because almost all parameters were within permissible range of Tanzania Bureau of standards (TBS). About 90% of interviewed households said that Nzovwe stream supply them with provisioning services (fresh water for drinking, washing, bathing, or sanitation purposes and other domestic uses); 3% said that they extract building materials (soil and pebbles); 5% specified that they use stream water for irrigation of crops (banana trees, maize) and gardens (vegetables); while 2% obtain pastures to feed livestock. This study recommends that future studies must include biological parameters instead of using only physico-chemical parameters to assess the quality of water in Nzovwe stream. Moreover, local authority must ensure that the stream is well protected by establishing stream management committees which will incorporate individuals from households adjacent the Nzovwe stream.

The study assessed the level of heavy metals in soils around auto mechanic shops and it effect on soil fertility at Kwadaso central agricultural station in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Ten soil samples from the study area and two controls were collected at the depth of 0-15 cm for laboratory analysis. Heavy metals, soil texture, pH, organic matter content, cation exchange capacity and total nitrogen were analysed. The results showed that most of the heavy metals studied had concentrations above the background level (control). The heavy metal concentration showed an increased pattern of Pb>Fe>Cu>Mn>Cd>Zn. Also the pH, organic matter, nitrogen and cation exchange capacity varied from 6.15, 0.88%, 0.10% and 4.01cmol (+)/kg to 7.30, 9.09%, 0.57% and 25.01cmol (+)/kg. This showed a relative reduction in the nutrient levels in the experimental soils compared to the background level (control). The auto mechanic shops have been contributing to the heavy metal contamination of the soil at the Kwadaso Central Agricultural Station in Kumasi.

The quality of water from four coastal towns (Ayetoro, Idiogba, Bijimi and Asumogha) in Ilaje local government area of Ondo State was assessed using standard methods with the view of determining the level of pollution through anthropogenic activities and state of the aquatic ecosystem. The results of the analyses of the water samples showed that Dissolved Oxygen (DO) had the highest mean of 7.66 mg/l in Ayetoro while the lowest mean (7.53 mg/l) was recorded in Bijimi; Temperature had minimum mean value of 29.42 o C in both Bijimi and Idiogba and maximum mean of 29.75 o C recorded in Asumogha. The minimum mean of pH across the four locations was recorded in Asumogha (6.63) and the maximum mean was recorded in Idiogba (6.71). The conductivity of Idiogba had the least mean value of 41.00 μS/cm and Ayetoro had the highest mean value of 41.83 μS/cm. Salinity ranged from 16.35 o /oo in Asumogha to 16.65 o /oo in Idiogba and the minimum mean of hardness (84.57 mg/l) was recorded in Asumogha while the maximum mean of 87.16 mg/l was recorded in Ayetoro. Also, turbidity ranged between 41.95 NTU in Bijimi and 45.36 NTU in Asumogha. The result revealed that all the physico-chemical parameters of water determined (except turbidity and hardness) showed no significant difference across the four sampling stations at P<0.05. The result obtained is within the permissible level of aquatic biodiversity, set by United State Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organization thus, the water can be classified as brackish and a good, stable and healthy aquatic ecosystem.

Selected microbial indices of water pollution of heterotrophic plate count (HPC), total coli form (T.C), fecal coliform (F.C), suspected Salmonella, enterococci (Ent.) and fungi count of Wadi Al-Arab reservoir in Jordan during 6 month duration (from Sep. 2, 2001 – Feb. 18, 2002) were studied. It was found that the overall geometric mean of HPC and fungi of water samples collected from 5 sites (Sep. 2 - Feb. 18) was 25119 and 3981 CFU/ml water respectively. The overall geometric mean of T.C, F.C and Ent. content of water of the same samples expressed as MPN/100ml water were in 1585, 158 and 32 respectively. From the total of 105 water samples analysed for the presence of Salmonella 68 (64.8%) showed positive suspected results. Among the three media used for the detection of Salmonella, bismuth sulphite agar (B.S.A), brilliant green agar (B.G.A) and deoxycholate citrate agar (D.O.C.A), it was found that B.S.A resulted in the highest positive suspected Salmonella 28 (26.7%). The averages of APC of the air above the sites of water samples collected expressed as CFU/Petri dish/15min. ranged between 7.8 and 21.3.
Water temperature varied between 32 °C in Sep. to 14.5 °C as lowest
temperature in January and an average of 21.4 °C. The averages of pH, electric conductivity (E.C) and turbidity were 7.69, 1051 μ.s. and 15.5 NTU respectively.
The effect of temperature and pH variation on HPC and fungi count of water samples could not be correlated, but it was negatively correlated with the T.C, F.C and Ent. of water samples. E.C had significant positive correlation on HPC and T.C of water. Turbidity on the other hand showed no significant correlation with water sample for HPC, T.C, F.C and Ent. counts. There’s no correlation between HPC of water and sediment samples but a positive correlation between T.C of water and sediment samples was found.

The uncontrolled release of sewage, industrial wastes, and agricultural run-off continue to affect Asia. Although many Asian countries are getting closer to meeting the improved
sanitation targets, much of the waste remains untreated. Comprehensive databases are rarely available and national data indicate that the water quality situation is serious. However, there are many signs of hope. Water quality monitoring efforts are improving and several countries now have systems in place that could guide other nations in the region. The efforts of basin agencies, such as the Mekong River Commission, could lead the way to transboundary or even regional assessments. Many regulatory and economic options are being tested for pollution control, but institutional and
social challenges remain, in particular those related to population growth and the various ways in which it is affecting water quality across the region.