Assessment of some water quality of Obuburu River, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria

The quality of water is very important and it determines the extent to which it can be used. The water for drinking should be potable and various parameter are always use for the assessment of water quality. The study was carried with the aim to assess the quality of Obubur river water, Okene town that serve as source of water to many inhabitants of the town. A total of 36 surface water samples were collected. The samples were analyzed for some physicochemical parameters and heavy metals such as pH, turbidity, total solids, total dissolved solids, suspended solids, alkalinity, total hardness, sulphate, phosphate and dissolved oxygen using standard chemical methods. Nitrate was determined by phenoldisulphonic acid method. Heavy metals (Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The water is hard and with a high chloride concentration. Studied level of Cd and Pb in water samples exceeded the safe limits of drinking water. The average level of Zn is also of concern. The range of heavy metals observed were 0.011-0.023, 0.008-0.011, 0.001-0.014, 0.001- 2.2, 2.80-7.20 for Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn respectively. The results indicated that the water is probably not safe for drinking by human and other animals as well as for cooking.Keywords: water quality, physicochemical parameters, heavy metal