Physico-Chemical Characterization of Ground Water, Case Study of Okene, North Central Nigeria

Okene is fast becoming an urban city and the search for groundwater is ever on the increase. Peoples resulted
to drilling of boreholes in order to supplement the earth dam that has served as the only source of water for
over forty years in the area. In order to investigate the quality of water in the area, 15 water samples were
taken randomly but spread around Okene town. These samples were subjected to various laboratory analyses.
The result of the test shows that the pH of water sample from the water board was 4.8 which indicated that the
water is acidic as against the 6.5 to 8.5 recommended by the Who standard for quality drinking water. The
other physical parameters like Total dissolved solid, Electrical Conductivity, the average Alkalinity of the
water samples is 19.0 mg/l and the Temperatures are within the WHO standard. Chemical elements like SO4,
NO3, Cl, HCO3, Na, Mg, K, Ca, Fe, As, etc Fall within the WHO permissible limits.