Tsledom Community drinks Acidic Water

Story by: Krobea Asante

During our visit on Tuesday June 5 to Tsledom, a farming community in Lower Manya Krobo, the team run pH test with rain water, bore - hole water, and the only well in the community but found it to be acidic between 4.0 and 5.0.

             Tsledom pH water test

A research fellow and and quality health partner, Francis Pinoko who led the demonstration disclosed that, drinking water with low pH end of the scale, thus pH values below 4 also cause irritation due to the corrosive effects of low pH levels. He added, similarly drinking water with an elevated pH can cause skin, eye and mucous membrane irritation.

He said, according to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency, pH is a secondary drinking water standard, hence recommends a pH between 6.5 and 8.5 for drinking. 'World Health Organization says, health effects are most pronounced in pH extremes' he added.

Mr. Francis Pinoko, who is also a safe water advocate said, acidic water can cause serious problems through the leaching of heavy metals from plumbing systems and faucets. He mentioned that, the New York State Department has declared that, lead exposure can lead to to a host of neurlogical and reproductive problems such as seizures, hearing loss and miscarriages.

Leaching of heavy metals causes a domino effect that can impact the gastointestinal system. Exposure to zinc from corroded pipes or iron sheets can cause nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

 Many residents disclosed that, the pH test for water was never known to them therefore they considered any colorless water to be safe for drinking, Mr. Frederick Nortey, a teacher in the community was thankful for the education, 'this is in the syllabus for students' but how do we make it practical when there are no resources, for me i am happy the parents are knowing it too', he said.

Touching on causes of acidity in water, he said there are several external forces that causes the fluctuations or extremes in pH, he mentioned chemical spraying on part of farmers, bedrock degradation, acid rain, wastewater discharge and carbon dioxide.

The impact on surface water is significant because more than 60 percent of the public water supply comes from surface water sources, according to a U.S Geological Survey.

Therefore if fish are dying off due to low pH, it also increases the possibility of other toxic effects caused by high ammonia levels, disease-causing bacteria and parasites.

To raise pH of the water in the area, Mr. Pinoko said that, one of the most convenient methods is to use calcite, which is a crushed and screened white marble media which can inexpensively be used to neutralize acidic or low pH waters to neutral, less corrosive effluent.

A calcite filter will typically raise the pH of the water to around 7.0 and add 1-3 grains of hardness (30 to 50 ppm).

Dade Mantse Atteh, chief of Tsledom opined that, they have been unaware of the subject of acidic water and therefore plead that, more visits and education is carried out to create more awareness, 'who knows how many are dead because of poisonous water intake', he added.

He called on the LMKM chief executive, Mr. Simon Tetteh to help in connecting pipe-borne water to the community, this will save us from drinking low pH water in our area.

Source: www.drinksafewaterghana.org