Water Quality Assessment of River Adema, Nasarawa, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

The quality of water is of utmost importance because it determines the suitability of water for use domestically, industrially or otherwise. The quality of water from River Adema was determined by the analysis of thirty (30) samples for physicochemical parameters using standard AOAC methods and heavy metals using atomic absorption spectrophotometer, AAS. The WQI and MI of water were evaluated to ascertain its suitability for the desired purposes. The results obtained were; physicochemical parameters: temperature (24.21±1.55 ºC), turbidity (0.57±0.08 NTU), TDS (722.88±103.02 mg/dm³), TSS (23.30±1.08 mg/dm³), pH (6.84±0.31), EC (3111.54±30.51 µS/cm), total hardness (7.62±0.62 mg/dm³), alkalinity (1.18±0.03 mg/dm³), chloride (0.49±0.05 mg/dm³), nitrate (0.02±0.01 mg/dm³) and sulphate (2.03±0.08 mg/dm³). Heavy metal concentrations (mg/dm³) were Cd (0.06±0.01), Cr (0.62±0.13), Cu (0.58±0.08), Fe (0.54±0.12), Pb (ND), Mn (0.57±0.10), Ni (ND) and Zn (0.04±0.01).  All physicochemical parameters were below WHO recommended standards and for the heavy metals Cd, Cr, Fe; and Mn concentrations were higher than the standard values. WQI for the water was 15.29, an indication that the water is of good quality however, MI for metals such as Cd (20), Cr (6.2), Fe (1.8), Mn (57) were higher than the recommended WHO limit, an indication of metal contamination. The results also showed that there was a strong positive correlation between turbidity and chloride and between copper and manganese.   Therefore, there is an urgent need for the regulation of indiscriminate dumping of domestic wastes, runoffs from farmlands, mining locations into surface water bodies, since these are the likely sources. Regular monitoring of the water quality should be ensured and water from River Adema should be treated before use.