期刊名称:International Journal of Environmental Science and Toxicology Research
电子版ISSN:2408-7262
出版年度:2014
期号:6805
页码:191-198
语种:English
出版社:International Invention Journals
摘要:The general objective of the study was to assess the effect of siting boreholes and septic tanks in the same area on the quality of groundwater in St. Bonaventure township of Lusaka District. A cross-sectional study was conducted in St. Bonaventure township involving 55 households. The study site was purposively selected because all households in the township used septic tanks and boreholes for human waste treatment and drinking water supply respectively. Households were randomly sampled from a total of 490 households using stratified systematic method because of the differences in plot sizes. Groundwater samples were collected, distances from groundwater sources to soakaways were measured and direction of groundwater flow was obtained from the department of Water affairs. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine relationships between variables. P-values of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. The study showed that about 33 percent of the groundwater samples were contaminated with harmful bacteria. The study revealed that only direction of groundwater flow had a relationship with groundwater quality and there was no relationship between distance from borehole to soakaway and groundwater quality. Siting boreholes and septic tank systems in the same piece of land is not suitable for St. Bonaventure township. Keywords: Lusaka, Groundwater quality, Borehole, Septic tank, Soakaway, Faecal coliform, Total coliform, Bacteriological contamination.