Abstract

Surface water samples from Romi River were collected for 24 months (2015 - 2016) and analyzed quantitatively for the concentration of thirteen heavy metals namely: Arsenic (Ar), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Lead (Pb), Nickel (Ni), Manganese (Mn), Mercury (Hg), Cobalt (Co),Calcium (Ca), Potassium (K)and Zinc (Zn) using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The analyzed data revealed that Ca, K, Mn and Co was found to be the most abundant in the river. In station 2 and its tributaries, Ar, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe,Ni, Pb, Mn, Co, and Zn were recorded the highest. While station 1 had the highest concentration of Hg, station 3 had the highest of Mn. The result has shown that the water at Romi River and its tributaries is contaminated beyond safety level and therefore not suitable for drinking as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO). Chromium, Lead, Arsenic, Copper, Nickel, Iron concentration are all above acceptable limit at station 2 and 3. Zinc concentration on the other hand is within the acceptable limit in all the 5 stations. In general, the water quality assessment with respect to heavy metals conducted at the 5 selected stations revealed that water quality at station 1 is within permissible limit for drinking and other purposes. Station 2 and 3 however, were beyond the desirable limit due to presence of high concentration of copper, nickel, Iron, Arsenic Chromium, cobalt and Lead metals. This finding can be concluded that anthropogenic activities which include industrial effluents, residential waste discharge and others have brought about resource degradation and a decline in environmental quality.