Assessment of Groundwater Quality for Drinking and Domestic Purposes through Local Survey and Water Quality Index in Vietnam

Abstract

The quality of groundwater resources is increasingly declining, significantly affecting people’s life and health. The study aims to assess public perception on existing groundwater quality and scheme over conventionally used free groundwater. The contemporaneous analytical procedures applied to determine the concentration of physical parameters: total dissolved solids and total solids and chemical parameters: pH, nitrite (N-NO2-), nitrate (N- NO3-), ammonium (N-NH4+/ NH3), iron (FeII + III) and total hardness were collected for 30 drinking water well samples located in 5 Quarters (An Hoa, An Loi, Ben Don, Phu Hoa, and Phu Nghi) to calculate the water quality index. The results show that up to 96% of people still use groundwater as their main source of drinking, domestic purposes, although groundwater quality is showing a serious decline in quality. The low pH index ranges from 3.0 ÷ 4.5. On average, 3.5 ÷ 4.0 pH of groundwater samples are outside the permissible limit according to VN standards 09: 2015 (5.5 - 8.5), which makes the water acidic, which harmful to human health. Besides, 10% of groundwater samples had high nitrate content, and 6.67% of water samples had ammonium content that did not meet VN standards 09: 2015. The current state of groundwater quality is not good for cooking and drinking. The results will benefit future groundwater exploitation to support more evidence of water quality and deteriorate the water quality soon, ultimately proving to be disastrous for all living beings in the region.