Quality Index of Borehole Water in Marmara and New Site Communities of Wukari, Nigeria

Abstract

The fitness of groundwater has continued to deteriorate due to increasing population, commercialization, and urbanization, among others. Water quality can be assessed on physical, chemical and biological basis. This study evaluates the physicochemical properties and quality index of borehole water in Marmara and New site community of Wukari Local Government area using standard procedure. Result showed that the mean pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), alkalinity, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and nitrates were 6.6 and 6.9; 111.6 and 385 mg/L; 34.6 and 33.4 mg/L; 102.4 and 150 mg/L; 21.69 and 8.42 mg/L; 31.51 and 16.85 mg/L; 8.98 to 18.30 mg/L for Marmara and New site borehole water samples respectively and are within the permissible limit of the World Health Organization. Marmara recorded the highest pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, TDS, alkalinity and nitrate while New site had higher total suspended solids, COD and BOD. WQI values of 86.03 and 80.22 were obtained in borehole water sourced from New site and Marmara respectively, rating the quality of borehole water in this study good and, on further purification, can serve for drinking and other domestic applications.