Hydrochemical investigation of groundwater quality in selected locations in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom state of Nigeria

Abstract

Water is a vital component to the development of an area. Human settlement is to a large extent dependent on the availability of reliable sources of water preferably in close proximity to the settled localities. This paper examines the hydrochemical facies of groundwater present in the Uyo. Akwa Ibom of Nigeria. 40 Borehole water samples were carefully collected in ten different locations in Uyo for various physico - chemical analyses. Calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, aluminium, and silver, Nitrate, phosphate, fluoride, chloride, pH, conductivity, total dissolved solid, total suspended solid, hardness, summation of ions as well as the temperature and colour were assessed among the entire samples collected. The results shows that: temperature ranges from 26.3 - 28.3, pH range is 3.19 - 5.18 . This means the borehole water samples fall within the highly acidic range. Conductivity ranges between 10.85 and 181.60 ps/cm. TDS range is 4.7 - 86.8mg/l, TSS is between 1.0 and 12.0 mg/1, Total hardness (2.61 - 31.29 mg/1) and Chloride concentration (5.0 - 9.36mg/l). Results show that some of the water samples considered in this work do compare favourably with WHO (1984) water standard for drinking and domestic usages while some other samples of boreholes water fall short of this standard.