Some springs in Awing, North West Cameroon, were assessed in order to ascertain their quality for human consumption. Achialum, Meupi, and Ala'amiti quarters in Awing depend on springs as the major source of drinking water and inhabitants consume it in its natural state without prior assessment and treatment. Water samples were collected from Achialum, Meupi, and Ala'amiti and analysed for organoleptic, physicochemical, and bacteriological parameters using standard methods. Results of organoleptic and physicochemical parameters showed that most of the parameters fell below WHO limits. Water quality index results, based on physicochemical parameters only, showed that Achialum and Ala'amiti springs were of good quality while Meupi spring was of poor quality. Water quality index may not carry enough information about the real quality situation since a single bad parameter value can give misleading information about the water quality. However, the bacteriological aspect revealed the presence of faecal coliforms and pathogenic bacteria in all the springs that justified the high rate of water borne diseases recorded in the area. This poor water quality could be associated to poor hygiene and farming practices. Thus, the population of Awing should implement home water treatment methods such as boiling, filtration, or chlorination before consumption.

This research focused on the quality of domestic water in Bangolan, Northwest Cameroon, in order to ascertain its potability based on World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines. Inhabitants of this locality, as well as others in rural areas, consume water from these sources without any prior treatment which can lead to contamination and infections. Sampling was conducted, and physicochemical and bacteriological properties of ten water sources were examined in November 2017 and January, April, and July 2018 using standard methods. The results showed that the sampled water sources were moderately acidic to weakly basic falling within the WHO specification. The values of electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids were low, suggesting low mineralised waters which could lead to a shortage of essential mineral elements in humans. Water turbidity was high in July, attributable to the rains. Major ions analysed fell within the WHO guideline values except iron and aluminium, whose values fell above guideline values in both seasons due to the nature of the soils. Faecal coliforms were found in all the sources, and specific bacteria identified were Escherichia coli, Enterobacteria, Streptococcus, Salmonella, and Shigella spp., suggesting recent contamination by faecal matter due to poor hygienic conditions, and hence, treatment was recommended. Statistical analyses revealed significant influence of heavy rains on most water parameters (p<0.05). Health data in the locality revealed 1389 cases of water-borne diseases, namely, typhoid, diarrhoea, and dysentery between 2016 and 2017 necessitating control.

This study assessed some physicochemical and trace element properties of soils and Zea mays from farmed dumpsites in the Bamenda metropolis, North-West Cameroon. The growth in population and metal workshops in Bamenda has resulted in the dumping of large quantities of wastes on agricultural soils. Thus, the fear of these agricultural soils and crops being contaminated by waste dumped on them is a call for concern because most of the populations rely on agriculture for survival. A soil and Zea mays sample each was collected from three farmed dumpsites (Nkwen, Mankon, and Bamendakwe) in the Bamenda metropolis and analyzed for physicochemical and trace element properties using standard procedures. The results of physicochemical analysis revealed that the soils had pH values ranging from 5.63 to 7.49, average organic matter, low total nitrogen, high C/N ratio, and high CEC, and the soil textural class was clay loam for soils of Nkwen and sandy loam for soils of Mankon and Bamendakwe. The content of bases in Zea mays was high compared to those in the soil. The concentration of Fe (14635.6 µg/g) in soils of Bamendakwe and Cu (157.17 µg/g) and Zn (1438.36 µg/g) in soils of Mankon had values which were above the permissible limit. The concentration of Zn (114.48 µg/g) in the plant sample of Mankon together with the concentration of Fe in all three plant samples had values above permissible limits. Natural origins and domestic waste were identified as the major sources of trace metals in the soils. Thus, there are potential health hazards related to consuming crops from such soils. Bioremediation techniques can be used to recover heavy metals from such soils. Furthermore, the mobilization of nutrient ions and immobilization of heavy metals by induced liming could be important in sustainable agricultural production and soil environmental protection of the soils studied.

This study evaluated the physicochemical properties and phosphorus adsorption characteristics of surface soils (0–30 cm) of Meupi on the flank of Mount Lefo-Awing. In volcanic-influenced soils, usually characterized by high acidity, phosphorus is often not readily available to plants, and this deficit tends to limit plant growth. Soil physicochemical properties and phosphorus adsorption studies were carried out using standard techniques. Results of soil physicochemical studies showed that the soils were strongly acidic (pH ranged from 4.7 to 5.1), with low available phosphorus (5.47 to 6.97 mg/kg). The apparent equilibrium time for phosphorus to be adsorbed in the analyzed soils was 24 hours. Phosphorus sorption studies revealed that the rate of phosphorus adsorption increased with an increase in the concentration of added phosphorus but decreased at a certain level at higher concentrations because the soil had no more capacity to adsorb phosphorus. The degree of fitness (R2) of the phosphorus adsorption data for the different adsorption models was in the order Langmuir < Temkin < Van Huay < Freundlich. This suggested that the Freundlich isotherm model was the best fit to describe P sorption processes in soils. The pseudo-second-order kinetics model, which assumed that the rate of phosphorus sorption was dependent on the number of active sites, gave a good fit to predict and describe the kinetics of phosphorus sorption from the soil solution. The capacity of the soil to adsorb phosphorus significantly correlated positively with amorphous Fe (r = 0.953 and p < 0.05 ), free Fe (r = 0.984, 0.976 and p < 0.05 ), free Al (r = 0.994 and p < 0.01 , r = 0.988 and p < 0.05 ), and clay (r = 0.968 and p < 0.05 ), which were the main parameters considered as predictors of phosphorus adsorption activities in the soils.