A Survey of Arsenic Level in Tube-Wells in Bam Province (Burkina Faso)

Touridomon Issa  Somé; Abdoul Karim  Sakira; Alidou  Kaboré; Aissata  Traoré

doi:10.4236/jep.2014.514134

Touridomon Issa Somé¹, Abdoul Karim Sakira¹^*, Alidou Kaboré¹, Aissata Traoré²

Abstract: Groundwater is a main source of water supply for populations in Burkina Faso where there is a serious problem for drinking water access. However, water quality has not been always followed regularly. Recent studies showed that more than 50% of drillings in Yatenga province (north of Burkina Faso) have an arsenic concentration above the recommended WHO requirement. Preliminaries studies conducted in Bam (Center North of Burkina Faso) showed high arsenic level in certain localities. This work presents for the first time data on a large scale evaluation that had been performed in all the localities of Bam province in other to have a better assessment of contamination scale. A total of 707 drilling water samples have been selected randomly in 9 communes and analysed for the arsenic level using atomic absorption spectrometry with hydride generation. The results showed that 11% of drillings have an arsenic concentration above the recommended WHO requirements with Rouko commune having the highest rate of high arsenic level (22%).

Keywords: Arsenic, Groundwater, Contamination, Bam Province

Cite this paper: Somé, T. , Sakira, A. , Kaboré, A. and Traoré, A. (2014) A Survey of Arsenic Level in Tube-Wells in Bam Province (Burkina Faso). Journal of Environmental Protection, 5, 1406-1410. doi: 10.4236/jep.2014.514134.

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