Water is one of the most indispensible elements of life. One of the major uses of water by man is for drinking, hence drinking water quality has become a major concern in this regard because poor quality water can cause outbreak of major epidemics and death. In this study, impact of locating boreholes near septic tanks/ pit latrines on drinking water quality in Uyo metropolis, Akwa Ibom State was investigated. The water samples were collected from thirty (30) locations and categorized into: (i) water from boreholes near ?(W?_near) and (ii) far from septic tanks/ pit latrines (W_far). Some physicochemical parameters analyzed were temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), salinity (i.e. sulphate, carbonate, nitrate, phosphate and chloride ions ), total hardness (TH), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS) and total alkalinity. Pairwise comparison between quality of W_near and W_far revealed that only BOD_5, TH and TDS had significant mean difference (MD) at 5% level of probability while their comparison with World Health Organization permissible limit (P_WHO) showed higher significant MD. All the values of parameters were within ? P?_WHO, except that of temperature and pH. Based on the results, the water chemistry is tolerable and may not cause any critical damage to the water distribution system as well as utility components. However, treatment is still suggested and boreholes should be drilled some reasonable distances far away from septic tanks/ pit latrine to guarantee safe drinking water.
Boreholes, Septic Tanks/ Pit latrines, Drinking Water, Quality, Physicochemical parameters
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