Analysis of Water Quality for Domestic use in Lafia Town, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Lafia is a town in the middle belt of Nigeria, located within Latitude 8° 25W and 8° 35W and Longitudes 8°28'E and 8°34'E. Lafia covers an area of about 258km2 and has a population of about 330,712 inhabitants. This population caused environmental pollution as a result pressures exerts on the available water sources. It is against this background that this study is carried out to analyze the water quality for domestic use in Lafia town with the aim of examining the water quality status of the area compared to the World Health Organization permissible guidelines for portable water. The method adopted involves the use of reconnaissance survey. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources and subjected to descriptive and laboratory analysis. The result shows that stream water source is the most polluted in Lafia with colour concentration of 10.5pt/co, turbidity of 8.5NTU and temperature of 26.4°c. The chemical properties for all the water sources sampled were slightly above the World Health Organization permissible guidelines. The result also shows that none of the water sources met the permissible guidelines in terms of chemical and microbiological properties. It was recommended amongst others that Nasarawa state water board should be provided with modern facilities for efficient address of domestic water use in Lafia. Clear water for everyone in Lafia for sustainable development.