COMPARATIVE METAL AND PHYSICO-CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF WELL WATER SAMPLES FROM ZAI AREA OF DUTSE, JIGAWA STATE

Water, the best drink ever is a basic necessity of life for humans, plants and animals as such the need to maintain its quality and freshness are everyone's business.Through anthropogenic activities a number of pollutants reach both surface and underground water bodies decreasing the quality and freshness and sometimes rendering it unsafe for drinking purpose.This research presents a comparative metal and physico-chemical analysis of well water samples from Zai area of Dutse, Jigawa State using various analytical methods and AAS analysis.The results revealed that the water samples studied are hard with average values ranging between 938.32 mg/L and 35.54 mg/L.The results also showed that the water samples contain a lot of dissolved salts thereby increasing the conductivity.The pH of the water samples were within the WHO range of 6.5-8.5.The average turbidity of the water ranged from 0.45 NTU TO 46.65 NTU.The results also showed the total dissolved solid to be between 36.5 mg/L and 597.5 mg/L.The water quality index analysis revealed the WQI values for all the samples to be 50 which means the water samples are unsafe for drinking purpose.Again the heavy metal pollution index value showed most of the water samples to be free from heavy metal pollution.Based on the results above, taking water from these wells for drinking purpose without the appropriate treatment could put one at health risk.