_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: Email: sadickadams1971@gmail.com; Original Research Article Journal of Global Ecology and Environment 8(2): 96-103, 2018 ISSN: 2454-2644 WATER QUALITY APPRAISAL AND ITS EFFECT ON AQUATIC LIFE AND ECOTOURISM: A CASE STUDY OF LAKE BOSOMTWE IN THE ASHANTI REGION OF GHANA FELIX ABABIO 1 , ADAMS SADICK 2* , HARUNA BAAKO 3 AND ABUNKUDUGU ASAA AKUNAI 4 1 Soil Research Centre, CSIR-Soil Research Institute, Ghana. 2 Soil Analytical Services, CSIR-Soil Research Institute, Kumasi, Ghana. 3 Department of Statistics, Bolgatanga Polytechnic, P.O.Box 767, Bolgatanga, Ghana. 4 Department of Agricultural Engineering, Bolgatanga Polytechnic, P.O.Box 767, Bolgatanga, Ghana. AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTIONS This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author FA designed the study, performed the statistical analysis, wrote the protocol, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Authors AS and HB managed the analyses of the study. Author ASA managed the literature searches. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. ARTICLE INFORMATION Editor(s): (1) Rafael Luque, Universidad de Cordoba, Spain. Reviewers: (1) Miraji Hossein, University of Dodoma, Tanzania. (2) G. M. Narasimha Rao, Andhra University, India. (3) Fábio Henrique Portella Corrêa de Oliveira, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Brazil. Received: 21 st March 2018 Accepted: 30 th May 2018 Published: 12 th June 2018 __________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT A research was conducted at Lake Bosomtwe in the Ashanti Region of Ghana to assess the performance of the lake with respect to temporal variations of selected biological characteristics, physicochemical characteristics and correlation analysis of the biological characteristics. Sixty (60) water samples were collected from ten (10) identified locations on the lake from 2013 to 2015 at the peak of rainy and dry seasons. The results indicated that the average values for colour, temperature, pH, Alkalinity, hardness, Calcium, Magnesium, Chloride, Phosphate, Nitrate, Arsenic, Zinc, Copper and Lead were 52.00Pt-co, 24.80 o C, 7.22, 46.42, 53.50, 4.01, 8.08, 1560, 0.79, 0.11, 0.07, 0.10, 0.14 and 0.04mg/l respectively. All the values were within the range of World Health Organization water quality guidelines for aquatic life and recreational purpose. There were also a gradual increase of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD 5 ) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) showing that the demand of oxygen for aquatic life was being affected which will make the water unsuitable for aquatic life in the near future. Finally, BOD 5 also showed strong positive correlation with COD and negative with DO and pH. The deteriorating nature of the lake as a result of gradual increasing concentrations of BOD 5 and COD should be a concern to the authorities and managers of the lake. Keywords: Lake Bosomtwe; water quality; heavy metal; anaerobic.