Drinking water quality and health risk assessment of intake and point-of-use water sources in Tano North Municipality, Ghana

This study assessed the change in the quality of drinking water from the intake to point-of-use and the health risk to consumers of the water sources in a farming community in Ghana. Water samples were collected from five intake sources and point-of-use sources from 31 households. A quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) was used to estimate the health risk. All the physicochemical parameters were found to be within the WHO guidelines except pH and water hardness. Again, none of the physicochemical parameters showed a significant difference between intake and point-of-use water sources. There were, however, significant differences in the mean total and fecal coliforms between the intake source and point-of-use source (3.63 vs 4.57 log CFU/100 mL and 1.38 vs 2.83 log CFU/100 mL, respectively). The results of the QMRA showed that the disease burden arising from exposure to river and spring water sources were above the WHO reference tolerable risk level of 1 × 10−6 Disability-Adjusted Life Years per person per year. The results of this study are expected to influence relevant stakeholders toward initiating plans that could mitigate the spread of waterborne diseases and avert the related economic implications in the study community.