Assessing Quality of Harvested Rainwater from Different Roofing Materials in Gwagwalada, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
Abstract
This study assessed the physicochemical and bacteriological characteristics of rainwater harvested from five different roof materials galvanized zinc roof (GZ), stone coated roof (SC), asbestos roof (AS), Aluminum roof (AL) and thatch roof (TH), with a control sample (CT), which was collected from an open space, all in Gwagwalada, Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, at onset and peak of wet season. Results showed that the mean values of the analysed parameters
generally had higher concentrations for samples collected at the onset of rain. From the laboratory analysis and spatial interpolation, the physicochemical parameters showed no much detectable variation pattern of water quality amongst the selected roof types. However, samples from AS and TH roofs showed higher contamination level in EC, Turbidity, TDS, TSS, Nitrate,
Sulphate and Chloride. TH roof water samples had the highest concentration of the biological parameters, while AL roof water samples had the least concentration of same parameters in both sampling periods, with Enterobacter and Klebsiella absent in the peak period samples from AL roof. The physicochemical parameters were within W.H.O. permissible limits but the bacteriological analysis showed evidence of contamination. For both the onset and peak of the wet season, the ANOVA results indicates that there is no significant variation in the concentration of the tested parameters across the different roof types. Having the least concentration for most of the analyzed parameters, samples from AL roof proved to be most suitable. It is recommended, among others that all harvested rainwater should be adequately treated before consumption.
Keywords: Rainwater; Roof materials; Water quality; Contamination; Onset; Peak
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