EVALUATION OF WATER RESOURCES OF BIDA TOWN IN CENTRAL NIGERIA

¹Olagoke, O. and ²Olatunji, J.A.

¹Research Outreach Department, Irrigation Unit, National Cereals Research Institute, Badeggi.

²Mineral Resources Engineering Department, Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin.

 E-mail: tobaolagoke@gmail.com, olatwise@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

There are great concerns for quality of water supply all over the world most especially in developing countries. The concern in this research work is in the ancient town of Bida, which serves as one of the major stopover to the Federal Capital Territory and Minna the capital city of Niger State, where brass, glass and black smith work is a popular industry next to agriculture. The aforementioned activities have prompted the present study into the evaluation of water resources quality in the Bida sandstone around Bida town, Niger State, Nigeria. The sandstone occupies the central sector of Bida basin and it belongs to Bida sandstone series, which is characterised by siltstone, clay-stone and conglomerate. The aquifer types are unconfined, semi-confined and confined, with a member of the sandstone series serving as the principal aquifer. Various methods (physical, chemical and bacteriological) of evaluating surface and groundwater were employed to detect localities with good quality and area where water is loaded with chemical and bacteriological substances in undesirable amount. The study revealed that major elements analyzed have concentrations that are within the World Health Standard. However, in some localities especially around area where the major brass works are carried out, the surface water have the following trace elements: Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn, Pb and Cr in an amount higher than World Health Standard. Generally, the well and river water contains coliform and faecal coliform in an amount beyond the stipulated amount safe for human consumption, which is an indication of domestic contamination. The overall finding is that the groundwater obtained from the boreholes in the study area is safer than other sources of water.