Characterizing groundwater quality for a safe supply of water using WQI and GIS in Bahir Dar city, northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Although both urban and rural residents benefit from drinking enough high-quality water in the right amounts, the degree of contamination from artificial sources has been increasing. The study aims to assess the quality and availability of groundwater potential in Bahir Dar City using geographic information systems (GIS)-based ordinary kriging (OK) and analytical hierarchy process methods, respectively. The concentrations of pH, alkalinity, Escherichia coli, nitrite manganese, and iron in the groundwater of built-up areas were found to exceed the limits set by the World Health Organization. The groundwater quality distribution contained 69.6% of good water, 19.6% of the excellent class, and 10.8% of the poor class. The high potential of groundwater, particularly in the Lake Tana shoreline sedimentation areas, revealed the poor quality class. The results suggest that improving groundwater quality should be prioritized in areas with high potential groundwater availability.