GROUND WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT: a case study of ground water from hand dug wells in Hawul Local Government Area of Borno State

One of the greatest environmental challenges that confront rural communities in north eastern Nigeria especially Borno state is scarcity of water supply. In most rural communities in northern Nigeria, hand dug wells are the major source of water for both domestic and livestock use. However, the qualities of water in these wells are not known. In Hawul local government area of Borno state, there are limited information on the quality of ground water. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyse the Physical, chemical and bacteriological quality of water in hand dug wells and to compare the result obtained with the stipulated guideline given by both the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) with a view to balance needs and resources. Water samples were collected from eleven wells in five different villages and assessed. From the analysis conducted and result obtained, 36% of the wells are slightly coloured, 45% have high level of turbidity, 18% contain high level of chloride, 9% contain high manganese, 18% have high concentration of nitrates, 45% have high fluoride, 36% have high magnesium, 27% have high potassium and 45% are bacteriologically contaminated. This implies that only 9% of the total wells are free from contamination while the remaining 91% are contaminated. These results pose a high level of risk to the health of people living in those communities and therefore, treatment of water before use as well as proper sanitary awareness is highly recommended for the safety of the local people.