Physicochemical Analyses of Different Sources of Drinking Water in Okene Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

The water quality of three different sources of drinking water (stream, hand–dug well and borehole) collected within the Okene local government area of Kogi State, Nigeria was investigated by determining some physicochemical parameter of the water samples using standard analytical techniques. The results of physicochemical parameters (pH, temperature, turbidity, conductivity, alkalinity, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, total solids, bicarbonate, chloride and dissolved oxygen) for both dry and wet seasons revealed high spatial variations in the concentrations of physicochemical parameters. Alkalinity was not recorded in all the three different sources of water samples for both seasons however, other physicochemical parameter values fall within the acceptable values of EU and SON standard limits except turbidity values in two sources (stream and borehole) which are higher than SON acceptable limit. Therefore, it is imperative that the water sources should be monitored regularly and be subjected to further treatments in order to reduce the concentrations of the few identified pollution indicators that may pose some dangers to the health of people living in this area.

Keywords: Stream, hand–dug well, borehole, physicochemical parameters.