Abstract:
In groundwater, dissolved organic matter (DOM), a complex material, is a contaminant of concern owing to its ability
to influence water quality and stimulate microbial metabolism. Using a 445-nm diode laser-induced fluorescence (LIF)
spectroscopy, DOM contamination levels have been investigated of well water samples fetched from ten privately owned
hand-dug wells during dry and wet seasons of 2016, 2017 and 2018, in Ghana. The results showed spatio-temporal het-
erogeneities in the LIF spectra, and the fluorescence intensity peaks were generally higher and broader during the wet
season than the dry season. In this study, DOM fluorescence spectra at an emission wavelength band of 460–650 nm
showed two distinct broad peak shoulders within 480–500 nm and 550–570 nm, engulfing the water Raman peak at
527 ± 2 nm for all the water samples studied. Furthermore, principal component analysis and cluster analysis were used
to differentiate the 2016 water samples based on their DOM contamination levels. In each case, three groups or clusters
were identified based on their similarities and dissimilarities. The study revealed humic DOM substances as the most
typical well water fluorophores. Applying the K-nearest neighbour algorithm as a classifier method for the classification
of 30 water samples studied in 2016, 16.7% (5/30) were classified as very good drinking water, 46.7% (14/30) as good,
26.7% (8/30) as fairly good, and 10% (3/30) as bad drinking water samples. In general, levels of dissolved organic matter
contamination increased over the study period during the rainy seasons for wells situated in close proximity to septic
tanks, refuse dumps, public toilets and in wetlands. Thus, in the study the fluorescence intensity depends on the sampling
site and the season, and indicates the DOM contamination level.
