Effect of Heavy Metals in Brewery Water Sources and Pito Brewed from Them in Tamale Metropolis and Tolon District, Ghana

Aims: To assess the effect of heavy metals (iron, manganese, zinc and copper) in brewing water sources and Pito brewed from them in the Tamale Metropolis and Tolon District.

Study Design: A Nested Design was used for the experiment replicated in three locations.

Place and Duration of Study: Samples of water sources and Pito brewed from heavy metals were taken from Nyankpala in the Tolon District and Education Ridge and Fuo communities in the Tamale Metropolis from August 2014 to November 2014.

Methodology: A total of 32 samples of water and Pito brewed from heavy metals were analyzed at Water Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Tamale using the procedure prescribed by American Public Health Association (APHA) (2017), 20th Edition, Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater (Buck Scientific 210VGP Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (Buck Scientific, Inc. East Norwalk, USA).

Results: The results revealed that heavy metals mean concentrations in water sources and Pito brewed from them were 1.69 and 60.50 mg/L for iron, 0.02 to 1.88 mg/L for manganese, 0.17 to 1.69 mg/L for zinc and not detected (nd) to 0.10 mg/L for copper respectively. Iron and manganese levels water sources and Pito brewed from them were significantly different (P= .05). However, mean zinc and copper concentrations in water sources and Pito brewed from them were not significantly different (P = .05).

There were positive and negative correlations between heavy metals in water sources and Pito brewed from them. The negative correlations were found to be significant (P=.01) and (P=.05) while the positive correlations were not significant (P=.01) and (P=.05).

Conclusion: The mean iron levels in water and Pito were above the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard. Manganese, zinc, copper in water and Pito brewed from them were within the WHO acceptable standards.