ABSTRACT

The supply of drinking water in Urora community in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo state is a challenge. Sachet water is believed to be a better source of drinking water than Machine-drilled borehole. This study was carried out to compare the quality of selected borehole and sachet waters for drinking and domestic uses. Five borehole water samples and five sachet water samples were taken from various locations within the Urora community and tested for physicochemical parameters using standard analytical methods and the result compared with the WHO Guidelines for drinking-water quality. For the ten samples analyzed there was no taste nor odour. The turbidity of the water samples under this study were within the range of 0 – 0.404 NTU. The temperature of the water samples was within the range of 29.5 - 30.4 °C. The total hardness of the water samples was found to be in the range of 0 - 5.26 mg/l. The calcium hardness of the water samples was found to be in the range of 0 - 2.75 mg/l. The magnesium hardness of the water samples was in the range of 0 - 2.51mg/l. The nitrate concentration of the water samples was in the range of 33.33 - 38.30 mg/l. The sulphate concentrations of the water samples were in the range of 16.32 – 23.48 mg/l. The chloride content of the water samples was in the range of 319.5 to 772.13 mg/l. The Iron content of the various water samples were found to be in the range of 0 - 0.1 mg/l. The pH of the water samples was in the range of 6.24 - 10.62. The TDS value of each of the water samples were in the range of 6.75 - 50.10 mg/l. The electrical conductivity of the water samples was in the range of 13.50 - 100.20 µs/cm. The zinc content of the water samples was in the range of 0 - 0.3 mg/l. The copper concentration of the water samples was in the range of 0 - 0.04 mg/l. The water samples contained zero cadmium concentration. The chromium content of the water samples was in the range of 0.02 - 0.12 mg/l. The water samples contained zero lead concentration. The nickel concentration of the water samples was in the range of 0 - 0.13mg/l. This project describes a study carried out in Urora community to assess the physical-chemical quality of different types of water sources i.e. borehole and sachet used by the people for human and domestic consumption. As a consequence, this research provided baseline water quality data in this region. As regards physical-chemical parameters, the result was that drinking water sources have a reasonably good chemical quality, with key exceptions related to the occurrence of chromium and Nickel contamination.