POLLUTION STUDIES ON RIVER AKPAKU IN GWER-WEST, BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

Authors

  • S. I. Idoko
  • A.U Itodo
  • R. Sha’Ato

Abstract

Pollutants in water may be physical, chemical and microbiological. Whichever, all pose health hazard to humans and livestock when the water is used for drinking or other domestic purposes. The levels of and variations in some physicochemical and biological parameters which may be used as pollution indices were investigated to determine the water quality of River Akpaku, Gwer West in Benue State, Nigeria (6o471N – 6o491N; 8o131E - 7o481E). Six sampling points at about 1km intervals were chosen. At each point results of parameters determined were: temperature (23.7±0.070C), turbidity (108.6 ± 6.7 NTU), pH (7.5 ± 0.04), conductivity (127 ± 0.89 µs/cm), chloride (52.3 ± 6.5 mg/L), sulphate (47.6 ± 0.4 mg/L), phosphate (0.54 ±0.01 mg/L), dissolved oxygen (3.0±0.1 mg/L), biological oxygen demand (2.63±0.1 mg/L), chemical oxygen demand (5.3 ±0.2 mg/L), total hardness (26.3±0.92  mg/L), alkalinity (2.3±0.84 mg/L), lead (0.021 ± 0.01 mg/L), manganese (0.06±0.0006 mg/L), iron (0.42±0.008 mg/L), zinc (2.9±0.02) and copper (2.63 ± 0.087 mg/L). The biological parameter determined was total coliform count (265.5±19.3 mg/L). The Weighted Arithmetic Water Quality Index (WQI) was used to determine the overall quality of water from the River. The value of 75 obtained indicated that though River Akpaku is not heavily polluted, the quality of its water is poor (Grade C). The observed wide fluctuation of the investigated parameters along the sampling points was attributed human activities in the River’s catchment. Overall, it was concluded that direct use of water from this river without prior treatment poses a health hazard to communities that depend on it for their domestic water needs and should advised as such. Keywords: Pollution,Water Quality, Water Quality Index, River Akpaku, Gwer-West, Benue State, Nigeria. 

Downloads

Published

2018-03-08

How to Cite

Idoko, S. I., Itodo, A., & Sha’Ato, R. (2018). POLLUTION STUDIES ON RIVER AKPAKU IN GWER-WEST, BENUE STATE, NIGERIA. Journal of Chemical Society of Nigeria, 43(1). Retrieved from http://www.journals.chemsociety.org.ng/index.php/jcsn/article/view/144

Issue

Section

Articles