Quality Assessment of Portable Water Sourced from Various Locations within Yenagoa Metropolis of Bayelsa State, Nigeria

The indispensability of water cannot be over emphasized being an essential resource upon which life thrives. Good quality water is critical to a healthy living. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of portable water obtained from different locations within the City of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Two categories of borehole water; Treated Borehole Water Sample (TS) and the Untreated Borehole Water Sample (US) were randomly sourced from eight locations within Yenagoa. Analysis was performed on the samples to determine their physicochemical, chemical and microbiological qualities using standard procedures. While the pH values reported for the TS and US sourced from Opolo and Swali were within the WHO acceptable limit, the value recorded on the turbidity of US fetched from Onopa, Opolo, Okaka and Amarata were in tandem with the stipulated WHO value for turbidity of drinking water. The temperature reported for all samples was deviant to the stipulated WHO standard for water meant for drinking. On the Total Solid reported for the samples, only the values reported for TS sourced from Onopa, Opolo, and Etegwe were in line with the WHO standard for TS in drinking water. The concentration of Ca, K, and Na reported for US sample sourced from Okaka were higher than those reported for water samples fetched from other sources studied. However, the concentration of Mg in the US sourced from Kpansia was higher than that reported for other samples, while the presence of E. coli and coliform was scanty. In conclusion, it can be deduced from these findings, which qualities of the US were in line with the WHO stipulation even though more samples from TS and US were either below or above the recommended values.