ABSTRACT

The physico-chemical characteristics of okhuaihe river, southern Nigeria was assessed for a period of six (6) months (October 2021to March 2022). Three stations were sampled with  a total of fifteen (15) physical /chemical parameters tested using standard procedure. The pH value of the water (4.5 – 5.6) suggested that the water was slightly acidic and was lower than the permissible limit (WHO 2011, SON 2007).  All parameters falls within acceptable limit excepts turbidity (0.00-33.0 NTU), total suspended solids (0.00 -20.0mg/l) phosphate (0.04 mg/L to 3.21 mg/L) and magnesium  (0.47mg/l to 2.43mg/l) which were above recommended limit by federal ministry of environment, (FMEnv), World Health Organization (WHO), and US EPA standards. pH (4.5- 5.6) electrical conductivity(EC) (16us/cm – 50us/cm), total dissolved solids (TDS) (6.04- 26.5mg/l), nitrates (0.17- 2.43mg/l) and sulphate (1.0- 14.12mg/l) which falls below the recommended limits. This shows that Okhuaihe river is fairly clean and regulatory bodies should monitor the activities going on in the river.