Groundwater Characteristics and Quality in the Coastal Zone of Lomé, Togo
and Ernest Amoussou 3Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 1)
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAuthors should include statistical result from a health point of view, contraction of diseases in the population, if possible.
Line 16: change “very good”.
Line 17 and 21: check doble period
Lines 26-27: the final sentence is incomplete. By?
Check double space between words and the use of comma and semicolon in the abstract
The introduction must include results of what a sustainable wastewater management policy could reach. Cite, as an example, the results of wastewater recycling policies in semiarid areas, like Murcia Region, in SE of Spain, where it is treated 98 % of its wastewater, around 43.8 hm3 per year (Alhama, I., Carrasco, S. N., Jiménez-Valera, J. A., Freitas, T. M. B., & Guerrero, J. M. G. (2025). A general solution for groundwater flow around deep excavations based on non–dimensionalization techniques. Engineering Geology, 107938)
Line 75: include water types from hydro chemical point of view.
Comments on the Quality of English Language
The manuscript should be reviewed by an expert
Author Response
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
Authors should include statistical result from a health point of view, contraction of diseases in the population, if possible.
Response: I have insert it
Line 16: change “very good”
Response: I have change it and highlight it in the text.
Line 17 and 21: check doble period
Lines 26-27: the final sentence is incomplete. By?
Response: the sentence has been completed
Check double space between words and the use of comma and semicolon in the abstract
Response: punctuation standards have been reviewed and corrected
The introduction must include results of what a sustainable wastewater management policy could reach. Cite, as an example, the results of wastewater recycling policies in semiarid areas, like Murcia Region, in SE of Spain, where it is treated 98 % of its wastewater, around 43.8 hm3 per year (Alhama, I., Carrasco, S. N., Jiménez-Valera, J. A., Freitas, T. M. B., & Guerrero, J. M. G. (2025). A general solution for groundwater flow around deep excavations based on non–dimensionalization techniques. Engineering Geology, 107938)
Response: Simple proposals were made based on the population level and their ability to invest.
We were unable to exploit this very interesting documentation because there is no wastewater recycling center in the study area. We want to highlight the use of water accessible to the population despite its very high vulnerability to pollution. For this we suggest the use of solar decontamination methods, the exploitation of Moringa, a plant very well known to the populations.
Line 75: include water types from hydro chemical point of view
Response: It is corrected with the support of an article
Comments on the Quality of English Language
Response: For the quality of the language, I request the support of the services of the MDPI journal
The manuscript should be reviewed by an expert
Response: The comments of the 2nd reviewer will help to improve the quality of the article.
Reviewer 2 Report (New Reviewer)
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsManuscript ID: water-3546320
Title: Groundwater characteristics and quality in the lower town of Lomé, Togo
The authors tried to explore the water quality at the important human settlements of the country. It is the need of the hour. Water is most important for the survival of every organism, especially humans. The topic is very interesting and the authors have done excellent work.
However, I would like to address the following issues before publishing the article.
Suggestions
Abstract
Line Number 20: The nitrogen and chloride concentrations higher than 20
than 250 mg/L during both the rainy and dry season… higher than???? Not properly completing the sentence
Line numbers 21-27: should be rephrased and the species names should be written in italics
Introduction
Line number 39: what do you mean by human dignity? Maybe rephrased
What is SDG “6” ??? Explain in brief
Line number 45: “Men”………… or human/ humans? Please specify. I hope it is not men
Line number 78-81: bacteriological and physicochemical parameters….. words redundantly appear may be rephrased
Line 81-85 should rephrased; it is not clearly mentioned …. Or difficult to understand the meaning of the statement
Materials and methods
Line number 87: Study area……not the study area
Line number 88 starts with a word located…. Please rephrase … or please read any standard article to describe the study area
Figure 1: Study area……… please mention with few notations in the title that the map is not good quality if possible please change the study area map to good quality (brightness and contrast)
The sampling of 10 districts may be marked on the map and which will bring a good sense of the study area
Figure 2: the title is very vague and it also does not appear with good quality
Line number 160: Physico chemical parameters – not assess the salinity, which is most important for the examination of any water… its ok, but in future, the authors should measure the salinity along with the pH and temperature.
Results
The line number 186-188 must be rephrased for the clarity of the statement
Figure 3 may be restructured with the overall mean values for the 10 districts (only 10 bars must appear in the figure) similarly for all the parameters otherwise it is not readable and the purpose of the figure is not fulfilled. Just show the patterns of variations among the 10 districts for each variable (mean and SE) and try to plot the error bar in the charts and the title properly mentions the samples size along with the title
Figure 8 is alone sufficient but another figure may be retained with scientific output
Table 4 is poor quality – retype the values in Excel or word do not paste the output from the other software
Figures 9 to 12 also do the same pattern like physicochemical parameters (mean values of each district and show the pattern of variations of bacterial for the 10 district (mean and SE) plot the error values
Line number 294: vertically and horizontally…. (citation???)
Discussion
The discussion is not discussed with the results obtained especially physicochemical and bacteriological parameters..
Here, we have to discuss the spatial and temporal variations of the parameters with citations
Please incorporate all the comments and then rewrite the results.
The discussion may be discussed with rephrased results and then the conclusion
Overall, the topic, objectives, methods and discussion are good. But the language should be strengthened along with comments raised.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageThe English could be improved to more clearly express the research.
Author Response
We appreciate the time and effort dedicated by Reviewer1 dedicated to providing feedback on our manuscript and are grateful for the insightful comments. Please see below, in bold, for a point-by-point response to your comments and concerns.
Suggestions
Abstract
Line Number 20: The nitrogen and chloride concentrations higher than 20
than 250 mg/L during both the rainy and dry season… higher than???? Not properly completing the sentence
Response: The error is corrected and highlighted in the text
Line numbers 21-27: should be rephrased and the species names should be written in italics
Response: The sentence has been reprinted with the species names in italics. The correction is highlighted in the text.
Introduction
Line number 39: what do you mean by human dignity? Maybe rephrased
Response: The correction is made and highlighted. Thank you.
What is SDG “6” ??? Explain in brief
Response: An explanation has been given and highlighted in the text. Thank you.
Line number 45: “Men”………… or human/ humans? Please specify. I hope it is not men
Response: The correction is made. Thank you.
Line number 78-81: bacteriological and physicochemical parameters….. words redundantly appear may be rephrased
Response: The sentence is corrected and highlighted. Thank you.
Line 81-85 should rephrased; it is not clearly mentioned …. Or difficult to understand the meaning of the statement
Response: The sentence is corrected and highlighted. Thank you.
Materials and methods
Line number 87: Study area……not the study area
Response: It’s corrected and highlighted. Thank you.
Line number 88 starts with a word located…. Please rephrase … or please read any standard article to describe the study area
Response: It’s corrected and highlighted. Thank you.
Figure 1: Study area……… please mention with few notations in the title that the map is not good quality if possible please change the study area map to good quality (brightness and contrast)
Response: A better quality map is submitted. Thank you.
The sampling of 10 districts may be marked on the map and which will bring a good sense of the study area
Response: the 10 chosen districts appear on the new map. Thank you.
Figure 2: the title is very vague and it also does not appear with good quality
Response: The figure is directly pasted from Excel to Word and the title of the figure has been revised. Thank you.
Line number 160: Physico chemical parameters – not assess the salinity, which is most important for the examination of any water… its ok, but in future, the authors should measure the salinity along with the pH and temperature.
Response: Thank you for the comment, we will take it into account in future activities.
Results
The line number 186-188 must be rephrased for the clarity of the statement
Response: The sentence was rephrased and highlighted.
Figure 3 may be restructured with the overall mean values for the 10 districts (only 10 bars must appear in the figure) similarly for all the parameters otherwise it is not readable and the purpose of the figure is not fulfilled. Just show the patterns of variations among the 10 districts for each variable (mean and SE) and try to plot the error bar in the charts and the title properly mentions the samples size along with the title
Response: Thanks for the observation; here we have replaced these figures with a synoptic table which takes into account the chemical parameters
Figure 8 is alone sufficient but another figure may be retained with scientific output
Table 4 is poor quality – retype the values in Excel or word do not paste the output from the other software
Response: The table was is directly pasted from Excel to Word
Figures 9 to 12 also do the same pattern like physicochemical parameters (mean values of each district and show the pattern of variations of bacterial for the 10 district (mean and SE) plot the error values
Response: Thanks for the observation; here we have replaced these figures with figures per season for each parameter, which means that we have 11 pieces of information per graph.
Line number 294: vertically and horizontally…. (citation???)
Response: Thanks for the observation; It’s corrected
Discussion
The discussion is not discussed with the results obtained especially physicochemical and bacteriological parameters..
Here, we have to discuss the spatial and temporal variations of the parameters with citations
Please incorporate all the comments and then rewrite the results.
The discussion may be discussed with rephrased results and then the conclusion
Response: The discussion has been improved in light of your observations with a more citation. Thank you.
Overall, the topic, objectives, methods and discussion are good. But the language should be strengthened along with comments raised.
Comments on the Quality of English Language
The English could be improved to more clearly express the research.
Response: Thank you, I request the support of native English speaker to revise the manuscript
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report (New Reviewer)
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAccept
This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe authors study the chemical and bacteriological quality of groundwater in the Quaternary aquifer of the Togolese coastal basin. They include a study of the hygiene and water consumption habits of households in Lower City of Lomé to analyse the causes of environmental deterioration, so that they can give some technical advice on how to solve them.
The manuscript is interesting, and the authors have reached some useful conclusions for policy makers to improve human living conditions.
Important comments
Lines 14-36: the abstract is too long. Summarise it, check abstract guidelines of the journal
Lines 55-64: Basic and fundamental information related to the context is missing:
What are the environmental issues in this region? How have they been previously quantified? What was the evidence that prompted you to conduct this study? Include some comments about. Population: Is there any different between seasons? Is there any impact of tourism? Is there any impact of tourism in GDP? Can you mention any quantitative data? What are the mean temperatures and average rains? Include lines 148-150 in this paragraph.
Line 76: Main picture of the figure should be changed by a topographic or satellite image (kind of Google earth). Keep the rest of elements
Line 138: Is there water intrusion? write some sentences abut it and how it affects to the multilayer aquifer.
Line 154: groundwater balance of quaternary aquifer should be commented and quantified (general, including recharge and discharge). is there a water table time series? include it or describe it
Line 365-372: These paragraphs should go to introduction.
I think that results form figures 3-6 should comments and integrated with the rest of the results in discussion and conclusion section.
Line 465: Include a quantitative data and references to state that
Minor comments or advises
Review the use of capital letters. For example, Continental Terminal and Continental Terminal (line 126 and key Figure 2).
Line 2: Consider including in the title the geographical location: Togo capital, Gulf of Guinea, Equatorial Africa, Wes Africa…
Line 5: leading (among other environmental problems) to 15 water pollution
Line 18: “but the accessibility of this water means that it is still used by the population.” I don´t think mean is the correct verb. Rewrite it. I understand you want to say thanks to the accessibility, groundwater is a main source of freshwater, so both aspect…
Line 31-32: Review punctuation marks, think about using equality= sign
Line 33 and 64: delete duplicated punctuation mark.
The use of acronyms has been largely discussed currently. Frequently, they do not make reading smoothly. Please, review the use of them in the manuscript. Are they necessary? have you explained what they refer to? Are they going to be mentioned further in the manuscript? Lines 56, 50, 30, 159, 164
Lines 58-59: “The latter endowed with a water table, in the quaternary sands, flush with the ground” Rewrite it with.
Line 83: is the River Zio in the figure 1?
Line 100: what´s groundwater potential? explain it, use technical words or delete it.
Line 105: Rewrite it.
Line 108-110: what is the lithology?
Line 118: use appropriate words: phreatic aquifer, free groundwater, unconfined groundwater, water table aquifer (INTERNATIONAL GLOSSARY OF HYDROLOGY, WMO-UNESCO)
Line 120: use appropriate words instead of “wall” (INTERNATIONAL GLOSSARY OF HYDROLOGY, WMO-UNESCO)
Line 120-121: when you mention altitudes, do you mean m a.s.l. or m b.s.l.? Please, correct it at any part in the manuscript.
Line 126-127: what is productivity? what do these values and units mean?
Line 128: aquifer thickness
Line 136: units?
Lines 141: The use of the word borehole is not correct.
Line 144: The water table has not a thickness.
Line 152: What do you mean “uses”?
Line 140: When you mention “recommended”, is that a personal comments or something related to legislation? Please, specify it.
Line 151: Is pumped water used for drinking? Is it done directly or are there any treatment?
Line 185-187: a better explanation of climate features is needed previously, so we can understand this periods.
Line 259: specify “into the environment”
Line 273: delete 120% from Figure 8
Line 279: Has this information been obtained by authors?
Line 289-293, 339: Are these standards for drinking water? Specify it.
Lines 333-336: What do these data mean?
Line 342: Units are not clear
Line 471: rewrite this sentence or check grammar
Line 475: “Quaternary sand table”???
Line 480: Check grammar
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageReview technical words for hydrogeological definitions INTERNATIONAL GLOSSARY OF HYDROLOGY, WMO-UNESCO, or similar.
Authors refer to the same thing (e.g., water table) in 4 different ways. Homogenize the use of technical terms.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe paper lack novelty, methods are not defined and elaborated. There are serious technical glitches based on which I don't see there is any rationale to see the usefulness of the article.
I have read the article with keen interest and I will have to say that it lacks the scientific approach and even the presentation of the information is not very clear.
1. The authors have described in detail the hydrological setup of the area, what I understood is that it is a multi-tier aquifer system, but most of the population is tapping the Quaternary aquifers that are shallow and saturated.
2. There is no description of the methods that have been used for various analyses.
3. The measurement of pH, and temperature measurement in samples of the site makes no sense at all and how do you relate it to the contamination? There are no control samples and no quality assurance.
4. Relating the sanitary conditions and volume of water discharged doesn’t mean that it is static and will build up at a place, what is the water quality upstream of the population in the aquifer?
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageThe language requires moderate editing.
