Assessment of water quality of ogbese river in ovia north-east local government area of edo state, Nigeria

The pollution of Ogbese River in Ovia North-East L.G.A. of Edo State, Nigeria was studied. Parameters like pH, temperature, electrical conductivity, colour, odour, chlorides, nitrates, phosphates and heavy metal ions such as lead, chromium, zinc etc, were analyzed. Also various techniques such as titrimetric methods, atomic absorption spectrophotometry were employed in the determination of these ions. The results show that most of the pollution indices of the water samples analyzed indicate that the Ogbese River water falls within the acceptable range for natural waters according to the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2006) standards. However, the Ogbese River water falls short of potable water on account of high presence of coliforms bacteria found in the river water. Defeacations of human, wild animals and runoffs from agricultural farmlands are believed to be the source of the coliforms bacteria.