Spectrophotometric Determination of Nitrate and Phosphate Levels in Drinking Water Samples in The Vicinity of Irrigated Farmlands of Kura Town, Kano State - Nigeria

Abstract

Twelve drinking water samples from boreholes were collected from various sampling sites around the vicinity of Kura irrigated farmlands using polythene plastic containers and were analysed for the nitrate and phosphate levels using uV – visible spectrophotometer. From the results, it was found that all the samples had Nitrate level below the World Health Organization maximum contaminant level of 50mg/l with a mean concentration of (17.84 ± 4.49) mg/l. phosphate level was also analysed and the results indicated that all the sampling sites had phosphate level above the World Health Organization maximum contaminant level of 0.03 mg/l with a mean concentration of (8.74 ± 2.56) mg/l.

Keywords: Drinking water, Irrigated farmland, Nitrate, Phosphate, UV-VisibleSpectrophotmeter.