Abstract

The needs for sustainable food supply have made assessment of groundwater resources for irrigation a mandatory act. The present study evaluates the possible use of Ogun State groundwater for irrigation in Southwest Nigeria. One hundred (100) water samples were evaluated for trace elements using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP/OES) while physicochemical parameters (pH, Electrical Conductivity EC, Redox potential Eh, Bicarbonates, Chlorides, Nitrates, Ammonium, Phosphates and Sulphates) were determined using standard methods. Piper’s plot showed that the order of dominating cations from both basement and sedimentary area are Na+> Ca2+> K+> Mg2+, however, the order of anion concentration in basement groundwater are HCO3-> SO >Cl while in sedimentary area are HCO3-> Cl > SO . The Kerlin Ratio (KR) showed that 62% of basement and 82.5% of sedimentary groundwater are not suitable for irrigation. Government support is needed for treatment in order for farmers to be able to use it for irrigation and enhance sustainable food production.