Assessment of Groundwater Quality in Parts of Port Harcourt Metropolis

The quality of public water supply in Port Harcourt, Rivers State has come under scrutiny owing to the state of the facilities of the Port Harcourt Water Corporation (PHWC). Groundwater they supply were surveyed to determine the fitness for household utilization with respect to chemical quality. Physicochemical parameters were ascertained using standard protocols for water testing. The result disclosed that the values for temperature, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, CI, NO₃⁻, Fe, Na, Ca, Mg, HCO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻, total dissolved solid, Zn and turbidity varied from 26.2 - 28.3°C, 200 - 1000 µS/cm, 3.9 - 6.3 mg/L, 4 - 7.15, 7.1 - 710 mg/L, 1.7 - 40.01 mg/L, 0.0001 - 9.6 mg/L, 4.6 - 404 mg/L, 34.5 - 620 mg/L, 22 - 880 mg/L, 12 - 365 mg/L, 5 - 16.16 mg/L, 210 - 684 mg/L, 0.01 - 0.17 mg/L and 0.01 - 0.97 NTU respectively, with all values conforming to WHO and NSDWQ standards, except for pH, magnesium and iron. The water quality index (WQI) is as follows: Rumuola main Water station 28 (D), Eagle Island Water Station 25 (D), Borokiri Sandfill Water Station 34 (D), Diobu Water Station 42 (D), Earnest Ikoli Water Station 46 (D), GRA, Omerelu Street Overhead Tank 42 (D), Moscow Road Water Station 45 (D), Elelenwo Water Station 41 (D), Rumuokwurushi Water Station 40 (D) and Trans Amadi Water Station 51 (C). Improvement in facilities and water treatment ought to be given urgent attention, as the WQI for all but one water station were bad.