ASSESSMENT OF WATER QUALITY IN BLUE NILE STATE AND IRON REMOVAL FROM GROUNDWATER USING GRANULAR ACTIVATED CARBON(GAC)

Abstract

The decline in the availability of clean drinking water in Blue Nile State has resulted from increased iron concentration stemming from a combination of human activities and geological factors. The primary aim of this study was to assess the drinking water quality in Blue Nile State, Sudan, with a focus on practical recommendations. The assessment is based on data collected in 2018 from 295 water sources, encompassing hand pumps, open hand-dug wells, and surface sources. Parameters under consideration include pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Electrical Conductivity (EC), Nitrates (NO3-), Fluoride (F−), and Iron (Fe). This study uses four water quality indices, namely the ArithmeticWeight Index, Quantification of Contamination (QoC), Geo-accumulation Index (Igeo), and Nemerow Pollution Index (NPI). According to the Arithmetic Index, 7.12% of water sources were categorized as Excellent, 54.92% as Good, 31.86% as Medium, 3.73% as Poor, and 2.37% as Very Poor. QoC analysis for iron underscored that 64.75% of pollution in the study area stemmed from Anthropogenic influences, whereas 35.25% was attributable to Geogenic factors. Further, the NPI indicated that 64.41% of water sources exceeded the recommended limit for iron, contributing to pollution This work's practical concepts may involve the utilization of experimental works for iron removal from groundwater, such as granular activated carbon derived from coconut shells and coal. Given the high incidence of iron pollution in the Blue Nile state, it is necessary to regularly assess water quality from diverse sources. In response to a prior study on water quality evaluation in this region, which recommended experimental work for iron removal from groundwater, the current study was launched. Its objective was to investigate an alternative cost-effective filter media for the removal of total Fe from groundwater. Granular activated carbon (GAC) was applied as an adsorbent derived from coconut shells and coal by conducting a column experiment to treat synthetic groundwater (SGW). An adsorption kinetic study was done for GAC made from coconut shells due to the high efficiency of removal. In addition, column experiments were carried out at various stages to determine the impact of initial iron concentration and hydraulic retention time.