Water quality determination has become essential in characterising the nature of water used by humans for various purposes. This study was therefore carried out to assess the nitrate to phosphate ratio and other physical and chemical parameters influencing the quality of water used for domestic purposes in Yeghe Community, Rivers State, Nigeria. Water samples (from 3 boreholes, 3 river points and 3 wells) were collected randomly for each study period, and subjected to standard laboratory procedures to analyse for parameters such as temperature, pH, nitrate nitrogen, phosphate, total dissolved solid (TDS), dissolved oxygen (DO) and electrical conductivity, using standard procedures. Nutrient limitation in the water sources was evaluated based on critical ratios produced by Redfield, using nitrate and phosphate as limiting nutrients. The nitrate to phosphate ratios indicated that there were more of phosphate limitations in the samples, as only two of the samples showed nitrate limitation, with the well water samples showing no nitrate limitation.  The study also showed that all the physico-chemical parameters were within the WHO limits, except for pH that had values below the regulatory standard. Statistical evaluation of the data showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) between the physicochemical parameters of the different water sources (river, tap and well), except for temperature that recorded no significant difference (p > 0.05). This novel study on physicochemical water quality determinants has provided baseline and reference data set for monitoring the pollution status of the different water sources of this rural community. Local health authorities should however regulate anthropogenic activities around these water sources to ensure the availability of safe for use water sources in this locality.

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Water quality observation data were collected from 10 representative monitoring sites located in the main stream of the Aleg's lake, Mauritania and its major tributaries between 2018. The Brakna region (Aleg, Mauritania) is symptomatic to the general State of the Mauritanian Sahel, which was hit by a desertification that has been steadily increasing over the last decades. It results in a strong reduction, or even a local loss, of the potential agro-sylvo-pastoral production, leading to a genuine risk for the populations' survival or at least an aggravation of poverty. All this has not been without impact on a highly deteriorated environment and a lastingly mortgaged socio-economic development. In the light of this situation, we will be studying the hydrochemistry of the surface water of Aleg's lake in Mauritania. After many years of domestic exploitation, both industrial and agricultural, besides climate change, it is interesting to ensure water's quality. With this intention, we have tried to realise a physicochemical analysis, an evaluation, to have an idea on the evolution of the chamical facies of Aleg's lake's water. For this, a sampling has been done for both dry seasons and wintering of the year 2017 at the 10 stations on both of the lake's shores. The following physicochemical parameters are: T, pH, C.E, Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + , K + , Cl -, HCO3and SO4 -2 . These measures include the volumetric and the spectroscopic analyses.The statistical exploitation of the results and their comparison with the interpretation of Piper's diagram, the results of the present study have shown that the lake's water in general has a bicarbonate calcic and magnesian facies for water at all sampling stations.As well as the evaluation of the analysis of the physicochemical parameters of the water of Aleg's lake presented in this work, it showed that the pH is close to neutrality: 7.43, the mineralization is average due to the conductivity presenting and average of 313.5 µS/cm. the average values of the calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium ions are, respectively, 28.75 mg/L, 21 mg/L, 28.92 mg/L and 18.54 mg/L and the sulphate contents of the samples are very low: 22.13 mg/L. these results meet the FAO norms.