Abstract:
Springs are a natural source of ground water and the most important sources of fresh water for drinking, agricultural and other house hold utilization. The spring water found in Fagita Silase is one of the widely used as a sparkling water for the local people and used for treating stomach ailments. However, there was paucity of information on its physico-chemical constituents. Thus, in this study Fagita spring water samples were taken from Fagita Silase Kebele and were analyzed in terms of physico-chemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity and total dissolved solid using portable digital multi meter while total hardness, chloride, sulphate, dissolved phosphorus, total phosphorus and ammonia were investigated using palintest photometer and the level of studied metal ions(Zn, Cu, Ca, Cd and Pb) was determined using the inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry. The obtained results of each parameter were compared with national and international standards. The minimum and maximum mean value of each parameters were found to be; pH (6.47, 6.62), electrical conductivity (2156, 2279 µs/cm), total dissolved solid (1085, 1174 mg/L), ammonia (0.39, 0.89 mg/L-NH3), dissolved phosphorus (0.35, 0.61 mg/L-PO4), chloride (39, 41.8 mg/L-Cl, sulphate (1.0, 1.6 mg/L-SO4), total phosphorus (1.5, 2.8 mg/L-PO4), total hardness (360, 441 mg/L-CaCO3), bicarbonate (225, 287 mg/L-CaCO3 ), Zn (0.09, 0.20 mg/L), Cu (0.014, 0.019 mg/L), Ca (57, 71mg/L), Pb (0.01, 0.05 mg/L) and Cd (not detected) respectively. This study indicated that the values of most parameters were found to be within the permissible limit of national and international standard values whereas electrical conductivity, total dissolved solid, and bicarbonates had relatively high concentration than the permissible limit.
Keywords; spring, physico-chemical, Fagita silase, water quality, metal concentration, ICP-OES