Pollution evaluation, sources and risk assessment of heavy metals in hand-dug wells from Ejisu-Juaben Municipality, Ghana

Groundwater quality is among the most important environmental issues as a result of heavy metals contamination from anthropogenic sources. Concentrations of heavy metals in hand-dug wells from Ejisu-Juaben Municipality were studied to understand the levels of heavy metals and their source of pollution. The results show that the average abundance of heavy metal concentration in the groundwater samples are in the order: Fe > Zn > Mn > Pb > Cu > Cd. The non-carcinogenic risk indicates that the groundwater is safe and therefore poses no health risks; however, the carcinogenic risk exceeds the acceptable limit of 10 −6 . Principal component analysis extracted two components, which explained 64.24 % of the total variance. C d suggests that 63 % of the samples are highly polluted (C d > 3), whereas HPI indicates that all the samples are above the critical limit (HPI > 100). Our findings concluded that lithogenic and anthropogenic activities are the main source of contamination influencing the water quality.