Assessment of Groundwater Quality For Human Consumption And Agricultural Use In Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, Nigeria.

Abstract

Groundwater is an important source of freshwater for drinking, domestic, and agricultural uses in many regions of the world. Contamination of groundwater by human and industrial activities is a serious concern nowadays. Thus, analysis of the water quality is of great importance in preserving and protecting the ecosystem. A research was conducted to assess the degree of ion toxicity of groundwater sources which include; borehole and shallow well for drinking, domestic and agricultural purposes. Sixteen groundwater samples were analyzed for physico-chemical parameters, and results indicates pH (93.8 %), temperature (68.8 %), dissolved oxygen (100.0 %), biochemical oxygen demand (13.0 %), calcium (93.8 %), Iron (100 %), manganese (31.3 %), lead (13 %) and cadmium (43.8 %) of the water samples fell beyond the WHO water standard permissible limits. 100% of other parameters such as Electrical conductivity, Chloride, Turbidity, Total hardness, Acidity, Sulphate, Nitrate, Total dissolve solid, Total soluble solid, Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium, Copper and Zinc fell within the permissible limits. The water quality was classified as excellent, good, suitable and unsuitable based on sodium adsorption ratio, percentage sodium, magnesium hazard, soluble sodium percent and Kelley's ratio using standard equations. For irrigation use 100 % of the water samples for SAR, KI, Na % and SSP were suitable while 62.5 % were unsuitable according to MH classification. From this study, it is suggested that the evaluation of water quality parameters as well as water quality management should be carried out periodically to protect water resources.