The drainage basin surrounding River Kaduna within the middle stretch is known to have numerous land uses and land covers. Several researchers have investigated the water quality of the river with respect to season and surrounding geology. However, none or little on the water quality of the river have been investigated with respect to land use and land cover (LULC). Hence, this paper examined the water quality of the middle stretch of the river in relation to the different land uses and land covers present using statistical techniques. This was achieved by monthly analyzing 10 physicochemical parameters from water samples collected in 15 sampling stations for a period of 12 calendar months using standard methods. The physicochemical parameters considered are; turbidity, total dissolved solids, pH, chloride ion and electrical conductivity. Others include dissolved oxygen, 5-days biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen and total phosphorus. The different LULC of the watershed obtained via ArcGIS 10.5 were agricultural, vegetation, built-up, industrial, water body and bare surface. Spearman's correlation analysis between laboratory results and the different LULCs determined via SPSS version 20 revealed that Built-up, industrial, and agricultural land uses contributes significantly to the impairment of River Kaduna water quality as the correlation coefficients between these LULCs and water quality deterioration ranged from 0.0281 to 0.6901. Nevertheless, there was a significant negative correlation (-0.1482 to -0.5490) between vegetation (forest coverage) and water quality deterioration, suggesting that forest cover can mitigate the deterioration of water quality to a certain degree.
Several researchers have studied the water quality of the upper and lower stretches of River Kaduna with little on the middle stretch of the river. Besides, no work has ever been done on mapping the water quality of the said river. Hence, the middle stretch of River Kaduna was monitored for 12 months starting from June, 2016 to May, 2017, covering both rainy and dry seasons in 15 sampling locations to generate data for water quality mapping. However, eight water quality parameters were analyzed namely; temperature, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen and total phosphorus using standard methods. Rainy season results were separated from dry season results and were used in mapping the water quality of the river for both seasons using ArcGIS 10.5. It was concluded that the water temperature of the river was within the permissible limit set by U.S. EPA during both seasons while the other water quality parameters apart from turbidity and pH deteriorated more during dry season. In addition, COD and total phosphorus were found to be the only parameters that never met the requirement set by U.S. EPA throughout the sampling period irrespective of the sampling location and season. This is because the least measured concentrations of COD and total phosphorus were 35.34 mg/l and 0.109 mg/l, respectively. It was recommended that farming activities at the river banks should be banned as the fertilizers used by farmers easily drain into the river and increase the phosphorus and COD concentrations.
Objective: In recent years, vended water has increasingly become a source of drinking water in most of the urban and rural centers of developing countries due to inadequate piped water supplies. Hence, this study assessed the quality of vended water and its level of contamination at source, during transportation, and at point of use in Unguwar Liman area of Samaru-Zaria during rainy and dry seasons. Materials and Methods: This included assessment of physicochemical and bacteriological characteristics and comparing the findings with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ). The water samples were analyzed for color, turbidity, total dissolved solids (TDS), pH, nitrate, phosphate, biological oxygen demand (BOD), and total coliform (TC). Results: The color of all the samples was constant at 5 true color unit irrespective of season and point of sampling. However, the mean concentrations or values of the three points assessed for turbidity, TDS, pH, and nitrate during dry and wet seasons were 1.693 and 2.663 nephelometric turbidity unit; 670 and 257 mg/l; 8.3 and 7.3 then 0.105 and 0.178 mg/l, respectively. Similarly, the mean concentrations for phosphate, BOD, and TC during dry and wet seasons were 0.0006 and 0.0068 mg/l; 1.052 and 0.928 mg/l, and 4 and 27 most probable number/100 ml, respectively. The result also revealed that all the physicochemical parameters investigated were within the acceptable limits of the WHO standard and NSDWQ irrespective of the season (except TDS during the wet season), while coliform counts were above the permissible limit during both seasons. Conclusion: It was established that the vended water of the study area has better quality during the dry season hence, inhabitants of the study area were advised to disinfect vended water mostly during the rainy season before consumption in other to avoid waterborne diseases.
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