Accessibility and Physicochemical Properties of Water for Domestic Purposes in Lafia Metropolis

Water is a precious resource which is essential for life and is ranked next to air as a basic necessity of man. However, one major challenge in Nigeria is the ability for both rural and urban areas to access a clean water supply. This study examined the access and physicochemical properties of water used in lafia metropolis for domestic purposes. This study adopted both the use of questionnaires and collection of water samples for laboratory analysis. The parameters tested include Temperature °C , pH value, Electrical conductivity µs , Total suspended solids mg l , Biological Oxygen demand BOD ,Turbidity NTU , Sulphate So4 , Chloride Cl , Nitrate No3 , Potassium K , Sodium Na , Calcium Ca , Magnesium Mg , Zinc Zn , Iron Fe Copper Cu and Lead Pb . The results showed that households in Lafia metropolis have reasonable access to safe water supply and the results of analyses of water samples were compared with the WHO minimum quality standards. The analyses revealed that the quality of water supply is adequate. For instance, electrical conductivity, total suspended solids, biological oxygen demand, sulphate, nitrate, and chloride values were all below the WHO values. Farringoro U. D | Ndor, E "Accessibility and Physicochemical Properties of Water for Domestic Purposes in Lafia Metropolis" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-4 | Issue-1 , December 2019, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd29541.pdf