Assessment of Seasonal Variations of Heavy Metals and Microbial Parameters on Well Water Quality in Urban Centre, Effluent Locations and Non-Effluent Location of Kano Metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

The groundwater consists of about 20% of the earth’s fresh water is the most widely used for drinking. Hence, the objective of this paper was to assess the seasonal variations of heavy metals and microbial parameters on well water quality in Urban Centre (UC), Effluent Locations (EL) and Non-Effluent Location (NEL) of Kano metropolis, Nigeria using appropriate standard techniques. The research collected 768 water samples from 48 wells at three different locations: Urban Centre (UC), Effluent Locations (EL) and Non-Effluent Location (NEL) in the city during dry and wet seasons in one year and subjected samples to laboratory analysis for determination of the concentrations of elements and bacteria in line with American Public Health Association (APHA, 2005). Higher mean values of Cadmium, Chromium, Mercury, Arsenic, Iron, Lead, Zinc, Manganese, Total Coliform and Escherichia Coli of 0.14mg/L, 5.11mg/L, 0.095mg/L, 0.15mg/L, 0.53mg/L, 3.1mg/L, 8.62mg/L and 4.1mg/L respectively at EL except Cadmium (UC). Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and T-test 0.05% confidential level showed that Chromium F(2, 3) = 17.225, p =0.019, Arsenic F(2, 3) = 16.11, p = 0.031 and Iron F(2, 3) = 17.135, p = 0.021 while microbial parameters showed that E. coli F(2,3) =11.88 p = 0.038 parameters wells located at the UC, EL NEL areas of Kano. The results showed that heavy metal concentrations and microbial contamination in the metropolis are significantly different from each other where the mean level is significant at P<.05 across different locations, with higher levels found in industrial and urban areas during the rainy season. These findings highlight the need for improved management and monitoring of well water quality in Kano metropolis to protect public health.