Evaluation of Physicochemical Characteristics of Groundwater from Selected Areas in Unguwa Uku, Kano Metropolitan, Northwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Present investigation was carried out on groundwater in Unguwa Uku for water quality parameters during October, 2016. Parameters such as total hardness (TH), alkalinity, electrical conductivity (EC), turbidity, pH, temperature, chloride, calcium, free CO 2 , suspended solids (SS), total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolve solids (TDS), colour, and odour were analyzed from five locations. The analysis were carried out using standard analytical methods. The analysis of data reveals that, the value of free CO 2 ranges from 9-104 mg/L, 36.05-72.10 mg/L for Calcium, 2-13 NTU for turbidity, 583.59-2065.03mg/L for total hardness 7.1-8.3 for pH, 21.7-23.4°C for temperature, 202-970 mg/L for TDS, 250-305 mg/L for alkalinity, 405-1939µS/cm for conductivities, 5TCU for colour, 111.70-659.51mg/L for suspended solids, 669.03-1255.51mg/L for total suspended solids, 106.57-296.10mg/L for chloride. The results obtained revealed that, the values of alkalinity, TDS, TSS, SS, pH, temperature, colour, odour, free CO 2 , and concentrations of Calcium of the water samples analyzed are within the acceptable limits set by World Health Organization (WHO) and Nigerian Standards for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ) for the drinking water. The values of electrical conductivity and total hardness are above the maximum permissible limits and may have adverse effects on the human health of the study area. However, not all the values of turbidity and chloride in the samples are within the acceptable limits of WHO and NSDWQ in the drinking water. This paper also recommended that, government and non-governmental agencies should make reasonable effort to control, regulate and educate the people in the study area for proper disposal of domestic effluents.