Assessment of Bore Whole Water in Oroworukwu Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

Water quality has become a serious issue to economic and social sustainable development, not only because of the imbalance between available scant water resource and dense population, but also the inefficiency of water resources regulation and management. This study is aimed at assessing the quality of borehole water at the study areas and to compare with standards, Water samples were collected from three stations (Mile 1 to 3) at nine points in oroworukwu area of Port Harcourt. Physicochemical parameters were analysed which includes pH, alkalinity, turbidity, temperature, salinity, total dissolved solid, conductivity, chloride, nitrate, and heavy metals. Bacterial analysis done included total coliform count, total fecal count and total heterotrophic bacteria. The results obtained showed a pH ranged of 4.8-5.9 which was below the permissible limit (6.8-7.8) of World Health Organization (WHO) and Nigeria Industrial Standard (NIS). All other physicochemical parameter results were within permissible limits. There were no bacteria detected in the water which indicated that the water was not contaminated. In any case there is a need to treat the water to raise the pH to the acceptable value of WHO and NIS.