Assessment of Spatial Variation of Groundwater Quality in a Mining Basin
dc.contributor.author | Alexander, Augustina Clara | |
dc.contributor.author | Ndambuki, Julius | |
dc.contributor.author | Salim, Ramadhan | |
dc.contributor.author | Manda, Alex | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2020-04-07T02:43:45Z | |
dc.date.available | 2020-04-07T02:43:45Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2017-05-15 | |
dc.description.abstract | Assessment of groundwater quality is vital for the sustainable safe use of this inimitable resource. However, describing the overall groundwater quality condition—particularly in a mining basin—is more complicated due to the spatial variability of multiple contaminants and the wide range of indicators found in these areas. This study applies a geographic information system (GIS)-based groundwater quality index (GQI) to assess water quality in a mining basin. The study synthesized nine different water quality parameters available—nitrate, sulphate, chloride, sodium, magnesium, calcium, dissolved mineral solids, potassium, and floride (NO−, SO2−, Cl−, Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, DMS, 34 K+ and F−)—from 90 boreholes across the basin by indexing them numerically relative to the World Health Organization standards. The study compared data from 2006 and 2011. The produced map indicated a lower GQI of 67 in 2011 compared to 72 in 2006. The maximum GQI of 84.4 calculated using only three parameters (Mg2+, K+ and F−) compared well with the GQI of 84.6 obtained using all nine parameters. A noticeable declining groundwater quality trend was observed in most parts of the basin, especially in the south-western and the northern parts of the basin. The temporal variation between the GQIs for 2006 and 2011 indicated variable groundwater quality (coefficient of variation = 15–30%) in areas around the mining field, and even more variability (coefficient of variation >30%) in the south-western and eastern parts of the basin. | en_US |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.3390/su9050823 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10342/8044 | |
dc.title | Assessment of Spatial Variation of Groundwater Quality in a Mining Basin | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |
ecu.journal.issue | 5 | en_US |
ecu.journal.name | Sustainability | en_US |
ecu.journal.volume | 9 | en_US |
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