Background: Groundwater pollution ensuing from ion exchange, weathering, agricultural and anthropogenic activities is on the rise in Nigeria. Since groundwater is used for domestic purposes, there is need for routine investigation. Findings on hydrochemistry of the groundwater components is essential for efficient and viable management. As a result, 25 Abuja water samples were collected for microbial and chemical analyses using standard methods. The cations, anions, soluble ions, trace elements, and heavy metal were obtained and compared with WHO standards. Results: The Discriminant analysis results shown that the parameters such as hydrogen ion concentration (pH), temperature (T), alkalinity (Alk), dissolve silica (SiO 2), and cations such as calcium (Ca 2+), potassium (K +), as well as anions such as carbonates (CO 3 2−), fluoride (F −), nitrates (NO 3 −), and heavy metal (Mn) were within the WHO guideline values for drinking water in all the samples for both seasons. Na + , SO 4 2− , EC, Mg 2+ , TDS, Fe 2+ , HCO 3 − , F − , TH and Cl − contents exhibited the most violation of drinking water standards with percent violations of 100, 76, 64, 56, 56, 44, 40, 40, 36 and 24%, respectively. The highest level of significant correlation was found to exist between K + and EC (r = 0.77, α = 0.05). Four hydro chemical clusters were identified from Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) with clearly partitioned water quality. Series and time series plot reveals TDS concentration value between 1200 and 2100 mg/l, has the highest with the mean and SD are 1433.76 and 459.38, respectively. Further analysis revealed that 16, 36 and 48% of the samples were the Ca-Cl, Na-Cl, and Mixed types, respectively. Conclusion: Groundwater in the Abuja district is mainly hard to very hard, slightly acidic in nature, polluted by ion exchange, agricultural activities, anthropogenic activities, and weathering. Therefore, there is also need for routine monitoring of groundwater in Abuja.

This paper assessed some of the reported cases of building failures and their possible causes in Nigeria between 1977 and 2011. The reported major failure causes are structural failure (SF), Carelessness (CLSS), poor workmanship (PW), poor supervision (PS), poor materials (PM), and quackery (Q).These causes of failure were subjected to Chi-Square statistical test at 5% significant level and 4 degree of freedom to know the most common cause of failure in Nigeria. The analysis showed quackery as the principal culprit in the reported building failures in Nigeria with prevalence of 8 over poor supervision being the minimum in occurrence. Structural failure occurred 5 times, while poor materials, carelessness and poor workmanship occurred 4, 2 and 2 respectively. The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) with Engineering Regulation and Monitoring (ERM) as her arm as a technical professional group discouraging quackery and failures generally in Engineering Practice. The holistic approach needs effective training of Engineers starting with strong mathematical and scientific background at the secondary and tertiary education levels in conjunction with rigorous field and Industrial training exercises. There after effective scrutiny, professional registration process of competent engineers is followed.

This paper assessed some of the reported cases of building failures and their possible causes in Nigeria between 1977 and 2011. The reported major failure causes are structural failure (SF), Carelessness (CLSS), poor workmanship (PW), poor supervision (PS), poor materials (PM), and quackery (Q).These causes of failure were subjected to Chi-Square statistical test at 5% significant level and 4 degree of freedom to know the most common cause of failure in Nigeria. The analysis showed quackery as the principal culprit in the reported building failures in Nigeria with prevalence of 8 over poor supervision being the minimum in occurrence. Structural failure occurred 5 times, while poor materials, carelessness and poor workmanship occurred 4, 2 and 2 respectively. The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) with Engineering Regulation and Monitoring (ERM) as her arm as a technical professional group discouraging quackery and failures generally in Engineering Practice. The holistic approach needs effective training of Engineers starting with strong mathematical and scientific background at the secondary and tertiary education levels in conjunction with rigorous field and Industrial training exercises. There after effective scrutiny, professional registration process of competent engineers is followed.

This study examines the effect of agrochemical used for faming in the Galma Dam area on the quality of water in the reservoir and well water around the reservoir. Nine sampling points upstream of the Galma Dam were randomly selected for the study. Also, six hand dug wells in use by adjacent communities were identified for ground water samples. The study covered the period July to September 2011. All measurements were in accordance with the Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater. The parameters measured and their mean concentrations from the reservoir are in the order of: Chlorides (0.600 -0.900 mg/l); Nitrates (0.009 -0.019 mg/l); Bicarbonates; 0.444 -1.900 mg/l); Total Phosphates (0.173 -3.077 mg/l); Sulphates (0.617 -3.587 mg/l); and pH (6.4 -7.5). For the well water samples, the results ranged from 1.58 -3.10 mg/l; 0.14 -0.03 mg/l; 0.60 -2.73 mg/l; 0.08 -1.89 mg/l; 0.33 -2.66 mg/l and 6.05 -7.0 respectively in the order previously listed. The results were statistically analyzed using ANOVA at 95% confidence level. Chlorides showed no significant variation between sampling points but significant variation with dates of sampling for surface and well waters. Nitrates variations with both sampling points and dates of sampling were insignificant. Bicarbonates variations with sampling points and dates of sampling were highly significant. Total Phosphates and Sulphates variations with sampling points and dates of sampling were insignificant and significant respectively. pH values variations with sampling points and dates of sampling were insignificant and highly significant respectively. Generally, the mean concentrations are within the WHO maximum limits of the parameters in drinking water and recommendations were made regarding the use of agrochemicals for farming in the area.