Water Quality and Syndicated Lead Burden of a Community Drinking Water Supply in Nigeria

Abstract

Inability of the Zaria municipal water works to satisfy the water demands of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) community necessitated the construction and commissioning of the ABU water treatment works in 1981. Against the background that wholesome and potable water had been declared a Human Right by the Human rights Commission of the United Nations in 2002, this study assesses the water quality status of the drinking water produced by the ABU water treatment plant from 2008 – 2010. This assessment focussed on some parameters of general properties and some heavy metals using standard methods of analyses. The average values of these parameters measured at the house level water samples over the study period were, pH 6.7, TDS 66.0, TOC 2.3, NO₃ - 1.4, PO₄^3- 0.1, Cl^- 0.5, SO₄ ⁼ 42.0, Zn²⁺ 0.04, Pb²⁺ 0.035mgl^-1 and conductivity 102.0μScm^-1. With these results, ABU drinking water supply complies with the Nigerian (Nigerian Industrial Standards NIS 554, SON 2007), USEPA, World Health Organization - WHO and European Union - EU standards except for its lead content. High lead concentration as recorded in this study is a source of worry in view of the health implication of lead in drinking water and the involvement of the Ahmadu Bello University Health Services in protecting the source water for over a decade through managing quality of drainage water from Samaru Village into the source water being treated.

Key words: ABU drinking water, lead concentration, Samaru, standards