Abstrait

Assessment on the Current Water Quality Status of Walgamo River, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Dessalew Berihun*, Belina Tarfassa, Getachew Dagnew

Urban River pollution has been one of the main issues in the world. Currently, Addis Ababa is one of the fast growing cities and concurrently the rivers in the city are vulnerable to pollution. The purpose of this study is to assess the current status of water quality of Walgamo River, which is located closer to Kotebe Metropolitan University. Water samples were collected from six sampling sites of Walgamo River and analyzed for physico-chemical parameters and fresh water elements in August 2016 and December 2016. The maximum recorded values were pH (6.64), total alkalinity (171.75 mg/L), turbidity (57 NTU), biochemical oxygen demand (72 mg/L), hardness (237.5 mg/L), total dissolved solids (283 mg/L), chloride (60 mg/L), chemical oxygen demand (177 mg/L), electrical conductivity (561 μS) Temperature 22.8oC), phosphorus (1.2 mg/L), arsenic (6.22 mg/L), and mercury (14.26 mg/L). Thus results show that the quality of Walgamo River is below the expected water quality standard.