Assessment of Tubewell Water Quality used for Irrigation in Kebbi State, North-Western, Nigeria

Abstract

Water is vital to the existence of all living organisms, but this valued resource is increasingly being threatened as human populations grow and demand for more water of high quality for domestic, agricultural and other economic activities like transportation and recreation increases. A field experiment was conducted with the aim of assessing the tubewell water quality used for irrigation in four (4) selected local Government Area of Kebbi State, North-Western Nigeria. From each local government area, water samples in triplicates were collected from in clean 2liter plastic bottles. Each water sample was analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity (Ec), total dissolved solid (TDS), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium concentration (RSC), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), potassium (K). Sodium (Na), chloride (Cl-) and (P) using standard procedures. Result obtained showed that overall mean of pH, SAR, Ca, Mg, K, Na, P and Cl were 6.3, 1.5mg/l, 165.17mg/l, 128.0mg/l, 1.20, 7.47, 0.16 and 3.75 mg/l, respectively. However, Ca (165.17mg/l), and Mg (128.00mg/l) were observed to high concentration in almost all the selected local government areas. Furthermore, result obtained also revealed that tubewell water were high for the parameters considered and therefore special attention must be given to Bunza tubewell to avoid becoming saline or sodic which could have detrimental effects on growing crops.