Aspects of the physicochemical properties of Shadawanka River, Bauchi, northeast Nigeria

Abstract

An investigation was carried out on some physicochemical properties of Shadawanka River in Bauchi between February and September 2007. The river was characterized by high temperature (>26oC) during the dry season, high conductivity (>204 ;Scm-1) reaching its peak in the wet season, high dissolved oxygen (>9.8 mg/L) with a minimum in the wet season and maximum in the dry season. Nitrate – nitrogen and Phosphate – phosphorus were similarly high and varied between 6.0 -7.9 and 0.1 - 0.4 mg/L respectively. Biochemical oxygen demand was low ranging between 2.1 and 6.4 mg/L with the peak appearing in the wet season. The total dissolved solids had its peak (14.3mg/L) on the onset of rainfall in May. The river was slightly acidic in the wet season with pH range of 6.1 in July and 7.6 in February. The changes observed in the physicochemical properties of the river were attributed to rainfall, flow regimes and surface run-off from catchment areas within a military barrack. The study revealed that the river receives low input of organic pollutant. This suggests that the river is not polluted and hence not stressful to aquatic life.

Keywords: Physico-chemical, river, season, Nigeria