International Journal of Chemical and Biomolecular Science Vol. 1, No. 4, 2015, pp. 292-296 http://www.aiscience.org/journal/ijcbs ISSN: 2381-7372 (Print); ISSN: 2381-7380 (Online) * Corresponding author E-mail address: akwasiachie@yahoo.com (A. Acheampong) Physicochemical and Microbial Analysis of Water from Selected Hand-Dug Wells in Ayeduase, Kumasi Joseph Apau, A. Acheampong * , O. Akoto, E. Duah Boateng Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Abstract Groundwater is a major source of water for commercial and drinking purposes for majority of the populace of developing nations. This study was carried out to assess the physicochemical and bacteriological quality of water from twenty five different hand-dug wells from five locations within the Ayeduase community. The study was carried out during the month of February and April which represent the dry season and rainy season respectively. The physicochemical parameters analysed include: pH, turbidity, conductivity, temperature, apparent/true colour, suspended solids, total solids, total dissolved solids, total alkalinity, total hardness, calcium hardness, and magnesium hardness, chloride (Cl - ) and nitrite (NO 2 - ). Metals analysed are calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and iron (Fe). The bacteriological quality was analysed using total and faecal coliform while employing the pour plate count method. Most of the parameters determined were within the World Health Organisation guideline limits for portable water. However, the values determined for total coliform exceeded the World Health Organisation limit for drinking water. Keywords Physicochemical, Bacteriological, Hand-Dug Wells Received: September 17, 2015 / Accepted: December 17, 2015 / Published online: December 29, 2015 @ 2015 The Authors. Published by American Institute of Science. This Open Access article is under the CC BY-NC license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 1. Introduction Groundwater is generally considered as a safe drinking water but rapid population growth, increasing standard of living in urban areas and industrialisation have resulted in greater demand for quality water while on the other hand, pollution of water sources is increasing steadily. Water is necessary for the healthy development of man, animals, and plants. The preference for ground water to surface water may be due to the need for purification of the latter prior to distribution [1]. Drinking water plays a significant role in the intake of trace elements by man. It is, therefore, imperative that physicochemical and bacteriological characteristics are determined to find out its suitability for domestic use by man. For this reason, many scientists have performed various experiments to ascertain the quality of ground water being used by people for domestic purposes [2-5]. In as much as safe drinking water is essential to health, a community lacking good quality drinking water will be saddled with a lot of health problems which could otherwise be avoided [6]. According to World Health Organization [7], in the next thirty years alone, accessible water is unlikely to increase more than ten percent (10%) but the earth’s population is projected to rise by approximately one-third. Unless the efficiency of water use rises, this imbalance will reduce quality water services, reduce the conditions of health of people and deteriorate the environment and the world. Approximately 70% of freshwater is consumed by agriculture [8], and water is vital to the life of an organism and that the content in the body be maintained, as an animal