POSSIBLE ABSTRACTION SITES ALONG OSUN RIVER LOWER COURSE IN OGUN AND LAGOS STATES, NIGERIA FOR SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY OF POTABLE WATER

Water scarcity remains a major challenge in all the developing nations of the world; not because of paucity of surface water (rivers and streams) that could be abstracted for treatment, but, find-ing a suitable and sustainable abstraction site. The main objective of this research is to identify good locations, where water treatment plant could be sited along Osun River in Ogun and Lagos State for sustainable production of potable water. To achieve this, water quality of Osun River upstream Lekki lagoon was investigated at three sampling stations; Ogbere, Igbonla and Lekki. Water parameters such as physical (temperature, solids, turbidity) chemicals (pH, electrical con-ductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrate, phosphate, chloride and sulphate, alkalinity, potassium, lead, chromium, iron) and bacteriological (feacal coliform) were determined using standard procedures. The results revealed that Ogbere and Ig-bonla stations are better locations where water could be abstracted from Osun River than Lekki stations due to low measured parameters (indicators of water pollution), which were within World Health Organization (WHO) acceptable limits. The findings also showed that while raw water abstraction from Osun River at Ogbere and Igbonla stations would require a conventional treatment, raw water from the Lekki lagoon (station) would require special treatment especially desalination due to high chloride and EC contents with expected cost implication