Evaluation of the water quality of Lake Nsezi in Richards Bay

Abstract

Freshwater of acceptable quality is crucial for certain needs and uses such as recreational, domestic and industrial activities (Bartram and Balance, 1996). Water contamination and excessive use and abuse of the fresh water environment, threaten development as well as a variety of other life aspects and make water assessment necessary for safe drinking water delivery. It has been proven that water of good quality is important to sustain development (Karolina et al., 2011). South African freshwater resources such as lakes, rivers and groundwater, undergo intense stress owing to a rapidly expanding population, a growing economy, severe pollution from various industries, a possible effect of global warming and an increase in droughts (Oberholster et al., 2008). A study done by Boyd (2010), further confirmed the decline in water quality of these resources due to excessive contamination caused by urban development, human activities, industrialisation, forest establishment, agriculture and mining operations. For this project, the analysis of physical, chemical and biological parameters of the water from Lake Nsezi was used to assess the water quality of the lake. Results from the analysis were compared to Target Water Quality Range (TWQR) of the Water Quality Guidelines for the Aquatic Environment (WQG/AE) and for Domestic Use (WQG/DU). A further comparison was done between data from the current study and available historical water quality data of Lake Nsezi. From the results for this project and historical data, it was evident that parameters such as total dissolved solids (TDS) and chloride, metals such as aluminium, cadmium, copper, lead and manganese, and total coliform counts were above the TWQR for the WQG/AE and WQG/DU at most of the sampling sites.