Assessment of Groundwater Quality in Egwi Etche, Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

Water plays a vital role in man’s socio-economic development, potable water is quite essential for good public health. The majority of people make use of groundwater, therefore making potable groundwater available is very important, and hence, a quality assessment was carried out to obtain the quality of groundwater in the Egwi community, in Etche Local Government Area, of Rivers State Nigeria. The World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 8.2–8.8 considers the pH levels in the six boreholes to be unsafe, however, the Nigerian Industrial Standard of 6.5–8.5 indicates that the pH levels of the six samples, which were examined for physicochemical properties, ranged from 6.58 to 6.9, the results for chloride ranged from 3.048 to 12.41 mg/l,  the range of iron concentrations is 0.166-0.28 mg/l, turbidity ranges from 1.46mg/l to 3.60mg/l, the concentrations of nitrate range from 2.15 mg/l to 4.47 mg/l, all of which are within the Nigerian Industrial Standard. The six borehole results were analyzed to determine whether the different results for each physicochemical test followed the lognormal distribution. However, the six boreholes' total suspended solids, turbidity, iron, conductivity, sulphate, and chloride concentrations tend to follow the lognormal statistical probability distribution. From the analyzed results the groundwater in the study area is considered safe for public consumption.