THE EFFECT OF WELL DEPTH ON PHYSICOCHEMICAL VARIATIONIN NEIBOURING VILLAGES OF RIVER NIGER AND BENUE IN LOKOJA KOGI STATE

Abstract

The effects of well depth on the physicochemical properties of well water of neighboring villages in close proximity to Rivers Niger and Benue were investigated. Wells of to 2.8m depth and 300m distance from the River were selected. These parameters were measured according to the standard method. A total of 120 samples of well waterfrom these villages (Shintaku, Ganaja village, Gbobe and Lokoja metropolis) were taken and analyzed. Results showed that Total Suspended Solid, (TSS), Total Dissolved Solid (TDS),Total Solid (TS),turbidity, alkalinity andTotal Hardness(TH), shows a range of 13-450mgL ^-1, 57-905mgl^-1, 10-170mgL ^-1,0.611-140NTU 11.5-18mgl^-1 and 202-818mgl^-1 .Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Dissolved Oxygen (DO), shows a range of0.1-0.45mgl^-1, 108-346mgL^-1and 0.08-0.75 mgl^-1 while Electrical Conductivity (EC) and pH shows a range of 53.5-98.5µscm^-1 and 5.9-7.5.  Ammonia, nitrate and phosphate alsoshow a range of 0.01-0.3mgl ^-1, 3.9-43mgl ^-1 and 1.5-14.95mgl^-1 in the dry seasonrespectively. Total Suspended Solid,(TSS), Total Dissolved Solid (TDS), Total Solid (TS), turbidity, alkalinity and Total Hardness(TH), shows a range of 13-450mgl^-1, 57-905mgl^-1, 10-170mgl^-1, 0.611-140 NTU, 59-131 mgl^-1 and 130-404 mgl^-1 .  Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)  and Dissolved Oxygen (DO) shows a range of 0.2-31 mgl^-1, 60-818 mgl^-1 and 0.9 - 1.2 mgl^-1,Electrical Conductivity (EC) and pH shows a range of 0.611-140 NTU and. Ammonia, nitrate and phosphate show a range of3.1-14.5mgl^-1, 7.5 -65mgl^-1and 3.1-13.5mgl^-1 respectively. During the wet season, it was found that the nitrate, turbidity and pH increased with depth of the well and the values of TS and TDS also increases positively with the wells proximity to the river in wet season, which was evident in their R² Values (correlation coefficient) as they range from 0.7-0.8. Careful consideration and planning is needed in construction of the wells. This suggests that wells must be up to 15m deep and 300m distance away from the river so as to be free from pollution.

Key words: Physico-chemical, Well, River Niger, Benue, Parameters