Physicochemical Studies of Potable Water Resources within the Kubwa Vicinity of Bwari Area Council, Abuja

Aim: To examine the quality of both borehole and groundwater in selected sites within the Kubwa district of Bwari Area Council, Abuja, Nigeria with regards to drinking water quality parameters and the measure of microbial load.

Study Design: Collection and assessment of the water samples from 5 different borehole and groundwater sites for which the pH, Conductivity, Temperature, Turbidity, TDS, TSS, Total hardness, Alkalinity, DO, BOD, Clˉ, PO43ˉ and bacteriological analysis were measured.

Place and Duration of Study: The experiment was conducted at the Chemistry and Biotechnology Advanced Research Centres of the Sheda Science and Technology Complex, Abuja, Nigeria between February and October, 2015.

Methodology: Water samples were collected from the sampling sites and assessments were determined based on the APHA water and wastewater standard procedures. The heavy metal analysis was determined with the aid of Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (iCE 3000). Total microbial load was determined via pour plate method using nutrient agar, MPN indexing, MacConkey broth and Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) agar.

Results: Results revealed that pH ranged from 6.89 - 7.15 (borehole), 6.64 - 6.95 (well water), Conductivity (µs/cm) range between 0.95 - 1.32 and 0.68 - 0.89 for borehole and well water respectively. TDS, TSS and total hardness ranged between 256-322 mg/l, 178-194 mg/l, 0.22-0.31 mg/l for all tested borehole samples while 313-327 mg/l, 226-245 mg/l, 0.28-0.34 mg/l for well water. These parameters are found to be within the permissible limits in case of all tested samples. The bacteriological analysis showed that the total bacterial count in well water was relatively high compared to that of borehole water. Also, the borehole water samples had an average of 4.0 X 102 cfu/100 ml while that of well waters ranged from 1.1 x 103 cfu/100 ml to 2.1 x 103 cfu/100 ml of the water samples. The borehole water samples had an average count of 1.2 x 102 cfu/100 ml faecal coliform while in well water samples, the faecal coliform (E. coli) count ranged from 2.0 x 102 cfu/ml to 6.0 x 102 cfu/100 ml. All tested parameters were compared with the WHO standards for drinking water and the results of the tested samples fell within the WHO permissible limits.

Conclusion: the levels of physic-chemical parameters; Temperature, pH, conductivity, turbidity, total dissolved solids and alkalinity contents in the borehole and well samples did not exceed the permissible acceptable world health limits.