ABSTRACT
Water is an essential component to the development of any area. Human settlement is to large extent dependent on the availability of good sources of water in close proximity to the settled location. This project work examines the ground water quality present in Ibesikpo Asutan local government area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Six borehole water samples were carefully collected in six different locations in Ibesikpo Asutan for various physiochemical analysis. Arsenic, Chloride, Flouride, Zinc, Lead, Manganese, Magnesium, Iron, Sulphate, Nitrate, total hardness, total dissolved solid (TDS), Turbidity, pH, phenolics compound, as well as coliform colonies were assessed among the entire samples collected. The results of the analysis show that: the pH range is 7.20 – 8.50 which means the borehole water sample falls within a low basic range, TDS range is 408 – 679(mg/l), total hardness 72 -425 (mg/l), Magnesium 16.20 – 39.10 (mg/l), Chloride 51-96(mg/l), Zinc 0.01- 0.30, Nitrate 35-44 (mg/l), Iron 0.03-0.06(mg/l), Sulphate 130-183 (mg/l), arsenic, Manganese, lead and phenolics compounds were found to be <0.01 and <0.05 respectively. The result shows that the water samples considered in this work do compare favorably with WHO standards and IS standards.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page i
Declaration ii
Certification iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgement v
Abstract vi
Table Of Contents vii
List Of Tables ix
List Of Figures x
CHAPTER ONE 1
INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background of study 1
CHAPTER TWO 3
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 3
2.1 As in ground water and soils: A brief Overview 3
2.2 Dissipation of arsenicals in the environment 4
2.2.1 Coal combustion 5
2.3 Sources of as in soils and groundwater 5
2.3.1 Natural Sources 6
2.4 Effect of Arsenic on Human: health Risks 6
2.5 Uptake and Metabolism of Arsenic 7
2.6 Toxicity of Arsenic 9
2.7 Epidemiology 9
CHAPTER THREE 11
METHODOLOGY 11
3.1 Groundwater samples collection and analysis 11
3.2 Sources, Speciation, and Mobility of AS in Groundwater 11
CHAPTER FOUR 14
RESULT AND DISCUSSION 14
CHAPTER FIVE 32
CONCLUSION 32
RECOMMENDATION 33
REFERENCES 34
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Chart Showing Variations Of pH Concentration of Water Samples in Ibesikpo Asutan, Akwa Ibom State 20
Figure 2: Chart Showing Variations of TDS Concentration of Water Samples in Ibesikpo Asutan, Akwa Ibom State 21
Figure 3: Chart Showing Variations of Total Hardness Concentration of Water Samples in Ibesikpo Asutan, Akwa Ibom State 22
Figure 4: Chart Showing Variations of Magnesium Concentration of Water Samples in Ibesikpo Asutan, Akwa Ibom State 23
Figure 6: Chart Showing Variations of Sulphates Concentration of Water Samples in Ibesikpo Asutan, Akwa Ibom State 25
Figure 7: Chart Showing Variations of Iron Concentration of Water Samples in Ibesikpo Asutan, Akwa Ibom State 26
Figure 8: Chart Showing Variations of Fluoride Concentration of Water Samples in Ibesikpo Asutan, Akwa Ibom State 27
Figure 9: Chart Showing Variations of Chloride Concentration of Water Samples in IbesikpoAsutan, Akwa Ibom State 28
Figure 10: Chart Showing Variations of Zinc Concentration of Water Samples in Ibesikpo Asutan, Akwa Ibom State 29
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Results of water quality analysis of Ibesikpo Asutan LGA 15
Table 2: classifications of total hardness in water. 16
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of study
Arsenic is a known toxic and carcinogenic element, with a combination of high toxicity at relatively low concentration and high mobility in water with a PH range of many groundwater (particularly the alkaline one) and under a large range of redox reaction. It is an one of the hazardous metalloids present in the drinking water, resulting from both anthropogenic and geogenic source (Boig et al, 2009). Arsenic being air ubiquitous element in the earth crust is transported in the environment mainly by water. Humans are exposed to ingested and inhaled arsenic through environmental, occupational, dietary and medicinal exposures. Mobilization of as under oxidizing conditions is known to be an important process responsible for Arsenic contamination problems in many waters affected by oxidation of sulfide minerals, which often results from acid mine drainage. However naturally occurring Arsenic in ground water of sedimentary basin has also been recently emerged as a global problem. (Bhattacharya et. Al 2004).
High concentration of Arsenic in ground water has been reported from different regions of the world, including booth, central and north America, and Asia. The Arsenic level in ground water excise significantly in different geographical areas. The global disease burden of chronic arsenic poisoning from drinking has significantly expanded from several endemic areas to pandemic environmental calamity all over the world in the late 20sentury.the Arsenic concentration in drinking water has been used to calculate potential health risk assessment: chronic and carcinogenic effects like average daily dose (ADD) hazard quotient (HQ) and carcinogenic risk (CR) (Ngugen et al, 2009, Kavcar etal, 2009). In drinking water the physio-chemical parameters are crucial and their high or low concentration directly or indirectly affects the humans.
The pH is one of the important indications of water quality and level of pollution in aquatic system (Ronnalagald and Inhere, 2001) Drinking water PH has no direct efforts on human’s health but it has some indirect health effort by bringing changes in other water quality parameters such as metal solubility and pathogens survival. Arsenic has been measured most extensively in human hair for epidemiological studies. (brima etal, 2006, Sampson et al, 2008). The concentration of arsenic is considerably higher in hair than in other biological samples blood and urine), possibly due to the composition of hair protein ( Keratin), which contains a large number of sulfur containing amino acids such as cytosine. The disulfide sites along with the reduced sulfur groups (-SH) often provides sites for the body (byrne et al, 2010). This, excessive accumulation of as in hair in the case of Arsenic exposure may be used as a diagnostic sing of Arsenic poisoning (Beanie et al, 2004; Karagas et al, 2004).
The present review summarizes possible sources of Arsenic contamination of groundwater, global overview of ground water Arsenic contamination, toxicity, basic chemistry associated health risks, and the best available strategies for mitigation of Arsenic pollution in ground water.
