Advice request on safe use of bore hole water

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I am not an expert in water but I need your advice.

I am located at Kasoa city in Ghana in the Central region and have Just moved into a new apartment and the the water tastes like sea water. I also notice that after boiling, there is white sediment at the bottom in it, it's fading my clothes and when I mix any colour liquid in the water, it turns to different colour e.g a blue liquid will not be blue but rather lighter green. 

The water is from a bole hole and being treated before entry into the 10000liter tank that passes it into the apartment. But the water is still salty like sea water.

Please  note that the apartment is rented not owned by me. I have the following questions:

1. How to tell If I can use the water to cook?

2. How to know I can use the water to bath?

3. If I use the water for my laundry how can I stop the fading?

4. What can I do in my little way to resolve it because I don't have big money to do a complete treatment.

Thank you for your good advice.

 

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9 Answers

  1. Hi. It is a common problem found in particularly in bore wells, Water is saline and concentration of salts are more, makes taste like sea water. Water is hard that's why it takes more time to cook and fading clothes. Also it is dangerous for human health, face kidney stone problem over the period.  You did not mentioned what kind of treatment you are providing before storing in tank?

     Solution : 

    1. first test water sample in approved lab and find out the content present.

    2. Base on presence of content, various treatment is available to make water drinkable.

    3. However, RO system with useful miniral would solve your problem. 

    4. For drinking/cooking purpose you can use RO water and for other use you can use bore water as it is or mix with RO water.

    Dilip Yewalekar 

    IrriAcad

    (Irrigation Agriculture Academy and Consultant)

    India

       

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  3. Hi Mary,

    A quick scour of the internet indicates that tapwater in Ghana is not safe to drink as is.

    https://www.lonelyplanet.com/ghana/health

    https://foundationbeyondbelief.org/news/drinking-water-ghana/

    https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/africa/ghana

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Ghana#Drinking_water_quality

    Sealed bottled water is recommended for drinking.

    If you are looking to treat the water yourself your three main concerns will be:

    • pathogens
    • chemicals (e.g. pesticides) and 
    • heavy metals

    If you can get hold of a small reverse osmosis system this should deal with all of the above and will improve the taste of the water.

    Something like this:

    https://www.filteredwatersolutions.com.au/reverse-osmosis/

    You will need decent water pressure to run the system (which you may not have in Ghana) and you will need to replace the filters/cartridges, typically every 6-12 months.

    If you have to drink the tap water your primary concern should be pathogens (bugs) in the water these have the potential to make you very sick, very quickly. The pathogens can generally be killed (inactivated) by boiling the water.

    Here is a quick note on how to boil water:

    https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/630751/safe-water-poster.pdf

    Boiling the water should deal with the pathogens but won't help in terms of the salty taste (might actually make it a little worse).

    Your next concern should be in regards to chemicals/heavy metals in the water. These but won't make you sick immediately like the pathogens will. These are more difficult to remove without.  Boiling the water might get rid of some of the chemicals, but it wont get rid of the heavy metals.

    So in answer to your questions:

    1. You won't be able to tell unless you have the water analysed. Used bottled water to cook if you can. If you can't use bottles water then use boiled water.
    2. You won't be able to tell unless you have the water analysed. Bathing in poor quality water is MUCH safer than drinking it. Try to limit your exposure by having short showers (even a bucket shower) rather than soaking in a bath.
    3. The fading could be due to a number of things. Given that it is groundwater it might contain iron and/or manganese which can discolour clothing. My advice would be to buy some cheap local clothing and ask the locals how they do their washing. Iron and manganese can be removed using pool chlorine, however, if you add too much you are likely to bleach your clothes.
    4. Your greatest risk is via drinking. Drink bottled water only. If you have to drink tap water make sure that you boil it before drinking. Get the water analysed when you can to find out if there is anything else in there that you need to be concerned about. It's probably not going to be cost-effective to treat water for your laundry.

    If you manage to get an analysis done, let us know the results.

    Regards,

    Daniel

  4. Test of water is must to know elements present.RO is one of peobable solution.

  5. Hi Mary.

    Salty water if used for cooking should be just fine but do not add any more salt.  The quality of the final product of what you cook may very well be very tasty.  By cooking with it, you will kill any bacteria that may be lurking in the water.

    As for bathing, it should be fine too, as the water should be sterilized in your hot water cylinder otherwise called a geyser.

    Please do not drink this water though.

    best in the long run is to have the water tested for TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) and what those solids actually are.  Also tested for E-Coli, the bacteria coming from human gut.  Also any heavy metals but these are relatively easy to remove with Activated Carbon.

    kind regards and all of the best

    Jeremy

    Water Rhapsody

  7. Hi, Mary, I think you need a household reverse osmosis water purifier.

  8. Hi Mary, I guess you are facing 2 problems: (1) Water in your area may be salty - causing problems for cooking (bad taste). (2) Water obviously is treated to avoid infections. Fading may be caused by added hypochloride. This can be removed by areation (shaking) etc., but then you will have the infection problem again. - I think, Stephen's advice is excellent. (Though hypochloride may be gone when the water sample arives in Accra.) Maybe he can tell you, whether there is an afordable way to prepare a small volume of drinking water by using an ion exchanger, for instance. - Good luck! Bernhard