Quality assessment of drinking water in Temeke District (part II): Characterization of chemical parameters

Abstract

This paper presents a study on drinking water quality in Temeke District (Dar es Salaam), which involved analyses of chemical parameters of drinking water samples from different drinking water sources. The drinking water sources examined included tap water, river water and well water (deep and shallow wells). Water quality studied includes pH, chloride, nitrate and total hardness levels. The concentrations of total hardness in mg CaCO₃/L and chloride were obtained by titration method while the nitrate concentration levels were determined by spectrophotometer. Tap water was found to be of high quality than other sources in terms of chemical characteristics. The study revealed that the chemical parameters of water sources did not meet the permissible World Health Organization (WHO) and Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) levels. Examining exceedence above the WHO standards, it was revealed that most of the samples contained chloride levels above allowable WHO limits. It was recommended that drinking water sources for domestic use should be protected from pollution sources.

Key words: Drinking water quality, pH, chloride, nitrates, total hardness, exceedence.