Groundwater Quality Assessment and its Suitability for Drinking Purposes in Nasarawa Area, Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

Groundwater serves as a source of freshwater for different purposes including drinking, domestic, agricultural and industrial. The quality and suitability of groundwater of some selected boreholes for drinking purposes in Nasarawa local government area Kano state was assessed. Five sample locations were considered in this study. These are Badawa, Wurro Bagga, Kawon maigari, Ring road bye pass and Bakin tasha yankaba. Water samples were collected in a clean plastic bottles. Descriptive statistics of minimum, maximum, mean and standard deviation were used. The result obtained revealed that all studied parameters pH, EC, T, TDS, Cl¯, TH, Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn concentration found to be within the maximum permissible limit recommended by WHO 2011, with mean value of 7.06±0.18, 778.60±191.75, 27.3±0.30, 402.20±97.86, 151.57±59.69, 120.8±35.56, 0.108±0.056, 0.254±0.119, 0.215±0.103 and
0.12±0.06 found within the permissible limit recommended by WHO 2008 and NSDWQ 2007 for drinking water except Pb, Cd, Cr and Mg exceeded the stipulated limit for drinking water set by WHO 2011 with the mean value of 0.113±0.066, 0.125±0.050, 0.275±0.163 and 1.04±0.38 respectively. DWQI result indicated that the quality of groundwater sampled is poor. It is concluded that the water required further treatment before consumption. It is further recommended that domestic waste, industrial effluents, landfill leachates and septic tanks that contribute to the contamination of groundwater should be properly control and manage in order to safeguard the quality of groundwater for human consumption.