Determination Of Physicochemical Properties Of Groundwater Of Some Shallow Tube-Wells In Abua, Rivers State, Nigeria

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The physicochemical properties of groundwater from shallow tube-wells of four communities designated as locations A-D in Abua Local Government Area of Rivers State were determined following standard procedures. Sampling was carried out twice in each month between March and June, 2015 to determine taste, odour, pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), conductivity, hardness, sulphate, phosphate, nitrate, bicarbonate and iron. There were significant (p<0.05) variations with higher values in some wells than others which may signify diffuse factors. Although water samples from the four communities were generally tasteless and odourless, at locations B, C and D, the water was found to be slightly acidic with mean pH values of 5.80±0.19, 4.60±0.05 and 4.20±0.07 respectively, due probably to intrusion from surface water since some of them are close to natural waterbodies. It was also noted that at location A, the water was hard with mean values of 206.64±16.75 and moderately hard at B with mean value of 126.21±45.60. The study concludes that health challenges currently being experienced by the communities living on these water sources, may among other factors, have arisen from the high acidic contents of the water at locations B, C and D, and therefore recommend regular monitoring to mitigate problems implicit in the continuous dependence on these water sources.