Assessment of nitrate pollution in groundwater (Chaneng Village, Rustenburg)

Abstract

Groundwater plays a vital role in the water provision for the areas that are so remote in such a way that rendering municipal services (piped water) proves to be cumbersome. While deemed so essential, it is also prone to contamination as a result of human activities. The assessment was done to establish the level of nitrate pollution in groundwater but not excluding the other chemical parameters that define the chemistry of water and give its fitness or unfitness for use. The assessment was undertaken within the Chaneng Village in the North West in the Crocodile West and Marico Water Management Area. A first set of five boreholes grouped as TBHs (TBH01, TBH02, TBH03, TBH04 & TBH05) were identified but TBH05 was found dry and could not be sampled for analysis. These boreholes were sampled in July 2018. Another set of boreholes also used for this assessment are a group of boreholes referred to as CBHs (CBH01, CBH02, CBH03, CBH04, CBH05) and were also used to provide water quality data for this current exercise. These sets of boreholes were identified for the pollution investigation ad hoc sampling exercise that was undertaken in 2010 to be used to compare the trend of water quality in a study area. Parameters that were analyses are Temperature (in situ), pH (in situ) & EC (in situ), Ca (mg/l), Mg (mg/l), Na (mg/l), K (mg/l), Cl (mg/l), NO3-N (mg/l), PO4 (mg/l), Total Hardness, TOTALK (HCO3) (mg/l), SO3, TDS, e-coli and total coliform Mixed results were observed considering the fact that there are a number of water quality standards, objectives and guidelines that are to be considered in South Africa for intrinsic use of water.