Physico-Chemical and Biological Characteristics of Stagnant Surface Water Bodies (Ponds and Lakes) Used for Drinking and Domestic Purposes in Niger Delta,

Copyright © 2013 Akpofure Rim-Rukeh. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The surface water quality of some stagnant water bodies (ponds and lakes—Obi Lake, Usede pond, Oguta lake, Omuku pond, Ugheghe pond, Karabodone lake, Abua lake, Ikarama lake, Tenmako lake, and Adiegbe lake) in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria have been investigated experimentally by analysing the physico-chemical and biological characteristics of the surface water samples. Results show: pH (5.10- 7.40), temperature (26.4˚C- 31.0˚C), turbidity (7.83- 27.7NTU), electrical conductivity (13.5- 34.8 µS/cm), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (1.07- 19.5 mg/l), chemical oxygen demand (COD) (1.90- 21.5 mg/l), suspended solids (SS) (9.70- 37.3 mg/l), dissolved oxygen (DO) (2.7- 8.7 mg/l), total dissolved solids (TDS) (33.8- 187.0 mg/l), total phosphorus (0.73- 2.47 mg/l), ammoniacal nitrogen (AN) (0.018- 4.70 mg/l) and total fecal coliform count (TFCC) (nil- 2175 cfu/ml). Results on the water quality using Malaysian Water Quality Index (WQI) show that Usede pond and Obi Lake belong to Class II with values that are 75.24 and 76.73 respectively. The WQI of Oguta lake, Omuku pond, Ugheghe pond, Karabodone lake and Abua lake are 67.46, 65.64, 65.87, 50.77, and 67.01 respectively and belongs to class III. The WQI of Ikarama lake, Tenmako lake, and Adiegbe lake are 43.38, 37.60, and 41.40, respectively and belongs to class IV and is described as fair