Ground Water Quality Determination of former Lake Haramaya, Haramaya District, Eastern Haranghe Zone, Oroma Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Assessment of the potential of available groundwater in a certain area is indispensable for further development of human being in every sector. This study assessed the current groundwater quality determination to check suitability of ground water for domestic purpose. Both primary and secondary data were collected to achieve the objective of the research. In order to determine the basic hydrologic parameters, meteorological data was collected from Haramaya meteorological station. The ground water quality analyses were conducted in Dire-Dawa Water Bureau laboratory and Haramaya University laboratory. Physical, chemical and biological analysis was carried out for seven triplicate samples from the former lake area and from its catchment. Based on TDS and hardness the samples were classified as fresh and very hard water. 33.3 percent of Fluoride (mg/l) and 66.67 percent of Nitrate (mg/l) results were higher than WHO recommended value with mean of 0.88 ± 0.18 and 17.6 ± 4.4 respectively. 66.7 percent of the turbidity was found to be above the WHO limit and 83.3 percent of the samples have total colifoms above the guideline value and it reveal the necessity of treatment before use.

J. Appl. Sci. Environ. Manage. Sept., 2012, Vol. 16 (3) 245 - 252