ABSTRACT
An assessment of the physical and chemical parameters of the surface water of Siluko River, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria was conducted monthly over a period of four months (October 2016 to January 2017). Four stations were studied from upstream to downstream with a distance of about 2 kilometres between the stations. A total of twenty-five (25) physicochemical parameters were studied. The results showed that mean values of air temperature ranged from (29 to 35˚C), water temperature (22.5 to 31˚C), depth (100 to 517cm), flow velocity (7.67 to 36.9 m/s), transparency (59.5 to 100.2cm), pH ( 5.63 to 6.82), electrical conductivity (84.20 to 471.20 µS/cm), Colour (1.70 to 8.90 Pt-Co), turbidity (1.10 to 4..10 NTU), total suspended solid ( 2.80 to 8.30 mg/l), total dissolved solid (43.60 to 234.50 mg/l), total hardness, (18.30 to 61.0 mg/l), DO (5.00 to 6.60 mg/l), BOD5 (1.50 to 4.20 mg/l), COD, (5.30 to 18.70 mg/l), sodium (0.56 to 1.51 mg/l), potassium (0.06 to 0.19 mg/l), calcium (1.09 to 4.53 mg/l), magnesium (0.34 to 1.23mg/l), chloride (17.50 to 74.50 mg/l), and the nutrient components phosphorus (0.37 to 4.39 mg/l), nitrate (0.01 to 6.10 mg/l), nitrite (0.69- 6.11 mg/l), ammonium nitrogen( 0.03 to0.27 mg/l), sulphate (0.47 to 3.54mg/l). Analysis of variance revealed that all the parameters showed no significant difference (p >0.05) , except water level, flow rate and BOD showed significant difference (p<0.05). Generally, most of the physical and chemical parameters were within the acceptable limits of Federal Ministry of Environment and World Health Organization for drinking water quality.
