Assessment of Heavy Metal Levels in Water Samples Collected from Odugbo River, Benue State, Nigeria

Drinking water is essential for life worldwide and is used daily. However, the quality of this drinking water varies from one source to another. In this research, analysis of five heavy metals: Pb, Zn, Cu, Mn, and Cd was carried out using the AAS technique in four water samples꞉: upper river water (L1), middle river water (L2), lower river water (L3), and Bottled water. The results of the study showed that Pb was found in the range of 0.411±0.001 mg/L to 0.852±0.021 mg/L in all the water samples analysed which is above the permissible limits of USEPA (0.015 mg/L), WHO (0.01 mg/L), SON (0.01 mg/L), and NAFDAC (0.01 mg/L) indicating health risk. Report from the four samples indicated the concentrations of Zn to be in the range 0.140±0,003 mg/L to 0.171±0.003 mg/L, which is below the permissible limits of USEPA (5.0 mg/L), WHO (5 mg/L), NAFDAC (5 mg/L), and SON (3.0 mg/L), and hence, no possible health risk. The results of the findings showed that the concentration of Cu is within the range of 0.212±0.027 mg/L to 0.761±0.012 mg/L and is found to be lower when compared to WHO (2.0 mg/L), NAFDAC (1.5 mg/L), USEPA (1.3 mg/L), and SON (1.0 mg/L). Mn ranged from 0.140±0.002 mg/L to 0.162±0.002 mg/L, below the standard that all the regulatory agencies set. Cd was found in the range of 0.200±0.001 mg/L to 0.231±0.231 mg/L and was found to be above all the regulatory agencies. Therefore, there is a need to take proactive action following the results of this research, which showed that concentrations of Pb and Cd in all the water samples analysed were detected above the permissible limits of the regulatory bodies, which is a potential health risk, either short-term or long-term, to the human body. The study further reviewed the fact that the bottled water analysed is of no significant quality compared to the river water.