NITRATE CONTENT OF BOREHOLE WATER IN AND AROUND NAGONGERA TOWN COUNCIL
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2026-09-01
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MALUNDA SOWEDI
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In the last few years, borehole water was a very important source of water until the introduction of piped tap water. However, borehole water is still used by the residents of Nagongera town council. This study was carried out to determine the nitrate content of borehole water in and around Nagongera town council. Ten different water samples were randomly collected from boreholes within and around the town council. Each sample was subjected to quantitative analysis using a UV-VIS spectrophotometer to determine the amount of nitrate present.
Using a corrected calibration equation ($Y = 0.267X + 0.0135$, R² = 0.9944) derived from the standard absorbance data, the nitrate content of the ten samples was found to be 0.6348, 0.6086, 0.6161, 0.5487, 0.6348, 0.6386, 0.6086, 0.5487, 0.6348 and 0.6049 parts per million (ppm) for samples 1 to 10 respectively. The number of pit latrines located near boreholes 1 to 10 were 2, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 2 and 1. The results did not show a clear linear relationship with the number of nearby pit latrines, suggesting the influence of other confounding factors that affect nitrate levels in borehole water.
All the concentrations obtained were well below the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for Uganda (50 ppm) and for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (10 ppm). However, the values obtained (0.55 – 0.64 ppm) fall within the 0.21 – 3.0 ppm range that Mueller and Helsel (1996) attribute to combined human and other anthropogenic influences, indicating that some degree of nitrate contamination rather than a purely natural background level is already present in borehole water in and around Nagongera town council.
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MALUNDA SOWEDI