Water Quality Assessment around Kataeregi Artisanal Gold Mining Site, North-Central Nigeria

Abstract

Hydrochemical assessment was conducted on streams, mine ponds and hand-dug wells around Kataeregi gold mining site, along Minna- Bida road, North-central Nigeria. This was done in order to evaluate the suitability of water in the area for both domestic and irrigational purposes. Fifteen quality parameters: Temperature, pH, TDS, EC, SO4, NO3, HCO3, Cl, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cu, Fe, As and Pb were analyzed. The abundance of the major ions was in order of Ca2+ > Na+ > Mg2+ > K+ > Fe2+ for cations and HCO3- > SO42- > Cl- > NO3- > PO43- for anions. The water was observed to be earth-alkaline fresh water, which is an indication of water from shallow aquifer system. The results of the field and laboratory revealed that the concentration of most of the parameters were below the maximum permissible limits for a safe drinking water recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) and Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ) except for iron, sulphate and lead whose concentrations at some locations were slightly higher than their respective acceptable limits. The high content of iron and sulphate could be attributed to the oxidative weathering of pyrite associated with the gold mineralization in the area while high lead content observed in the area was due to the weathering and subsequent dissolution of galena, discarded by the artisanal miners during the exploration for gold.