Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 2012, 4, 285-293 doi:10.4236/jwarp.2012.45031 Published Online May 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/jwarp) Evaluation of Groundwater Suitability for Domestic and Irrigational Purposes: A Case Study from Mingoa River Basin, Yaounde, Cameroon Tabue Youmbi Jean Ghislain 1 , Feumba Roger 1 , Wethe Joseph 2 , Ekodeck Georges Emmanuel 1 , De Marsily Ghislain 3 1 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon 2 Centre Régional pour l’Eau Potable et l’Assainissement à Moindre coût, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso 3 Université Pierre Marie Curie de Paris 6 et Ecole des Mines de Paris, Paris, France Email: tabueley@yahoo.fr Received February 23, 2012; revised March 21, 2012; accepted April 22, 2012 ABSTRACT A baseline study involving analyses of subsurface water samples from the Mingoa river basin (longitude: 11˚30ƍE; lati- tude: 3˚52ƍN) in migmatitic complex in Yaounde Cameroon (central Africa) was carried out to assess their suitability for drinking, domestic and agricultural purposes. Study results show that pH is ranged between 5.1≤ pH ≤ 5.8 and then, induces acidic waters. Groundwater samples are generally characterized by low conductivity values, of which 100% are within the range (55 ≤ EC ≤ 1500 µS/cm). The mean values of the major cations (Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + , K + ) and anions ( , Cl – , 3 ) are all within the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Two of the springs sampled have nitrate ( 3 ) contamination. Even though 3 2 4 SO  HCO   NO NO  contamination and acidic waters exist in some of the springs, the majority of the springs are excellent for agricultural and domestic purposes. Assessment of the groundwater for agri- cultural irrigation revealed two main categories. These are low salinity-low sodicity (C1-S1) and medium salinity-low sodicity (C2-S1), using the US Salinity Laboratory (USSL) classification scheme. As much as all of the samples plotted in the “excellent to good” and “good to permissible” categories on the Wilcox diagram. The groundwater in the study area may therefore be regarded as good for irrigation activities. The major identifiable geochemical processes responsi- ble for the evolution of the various ions are mineral weathering, chemical reactions and anthropogenic activities. Keywords: Groundwater; Suitability; Mingoa Watershed; Yaounde; Cameroon; Central Africa 1. Introduction Groundwater is a valuable natural resource; it occurs almost in all geological formations beneath the earth sur- face not in a single widespread aquifer but in thousands of local aquifer systems with similar characteristics [1]. The presence of dissolved minerals coupled with some spe- cial characteristics of groundwater as compared to sur- face water makes it a preferred choice for many purposes [2,3]. The chemical quality of groundwater depends on the characteristics of the soil and rock media through which it passes to the groundwater zone of saturation [4-7]. It is also dependent on the length of time the water is stored in the ground (residence time) [8]. Various re- searchers carried out the hydrochemical characteristics of groundwater and quality of groundwater in different ba- sins as well in urban areas [9-13]. Groundwater has become the major source of water supply for domestic, industrial and agricultural sectors of many countries. In recent years, many cities of develop- ing countries as Yaounde are experiencing rapid demo- graphic growth due to rural exodus. Actually, more than 48% of Cameroon population lives in town [14] and 39% still remain in monetary poverty [14]. Majority of the people in our country depend on agriculture (that is cul- tivators and agricultural laborers). More than 7.5% of the Yaounde population practices the urban and peri-urban agriculture in the swampy area to produce leaf vegetables for commercialization and consumption [15]. In this area, both for drinking as well as irrigation purposes substan- tial amount of groundwater is being used. Hence, evalua- tion of groundwater resources for development requires an understanding of the hydrogeologic and hydrochemi- cal properties of the aquifers [5]. This study was conducted to determine physical and chemical quality of spring’s water from the Mingoa wa- tershed located in urban area of Yaounde and to evaluate its suitability for domestic and agricultural uses. Copyright © 2012 SciRes. JWARP