ELECTROCHEMICAL TREATMENT OF TURBID RAW WATER FROM OPA DAM, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY, ILE-IFE, NIGERIA

Water scarcity affects over 2 billion people globally, with the United Nations predicting that by 2025, half the world's population will live in water-stressed areas. Contaminated sources of water with pollutants such as heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and copper pose severe health risks. Traditional water treatment approaches often fail to remove these pollutants, highlighting the need for advanced treatment techniques such as electrochemical treatment. This study evaluated the performance of electrochemical treatment (Al-Al electrodes) in removing selected pollutants from turbid raw water obtained from Opa dam, located at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Effects of selected factors (volume of water to electrolyte ratio, treatment duration, electrode spacing and applied current) were evaluated and optimized using the Taguchi technique. The results revealed that the electrochemical treatment significantly reduced the concentrations of all targeted contaminants. The highest removal efficiencies achieved were 58.35 % for turbidity, 88.10 % for total dissolve solids, 92.31 % for chloride, 31.18 % for copper, 90.21 % for zinc, 56.33 % for lead, and 57.71 % for cadmium. Optimal treatment conditions varied for each parameter. The optimal conditions were a volume ratio of 1.75, a treatment time of 35 minutes, electrode spacing of 1.2 cm, and a current of 1.5 A for turbidity removal. In conclusion, the study established the effectiveness of electrochemical treatment in removing selected pollutants from turbid raw water. The optimum values of the system varied with the parameters and the factors. The study provided a framework for enhancing water treatment processes using electrochemical methods and thereby contributes to sustainable development Goal 6.