Impact Of Water Quality For Agriculture Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations

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IMPACT OF WATER QUALITY FOR AGRICULTURE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background to the study

 

The Greek philosopher Pindar described water as the “best of all things”. This view is not surprising since the need for water, throughout human history, has always been appreciated. Water is present everywhere without which life will simply cease to exist. It is constantly in motion, passing from one state to another and from one location to another. Irrespective of its movement as rivers or streams or stationary as it is in lakes, it invariably contains extraneous materials, due to natural causes and human activities (Biswas, 2008). Almost all of the planet’s water (97%) occurs as salt water in the oceans (Bouwer, 1978). Of the remaining 3%, two-thirds occur as snow and ice in polar and mountainous regions, and only about 1% of the global water as freshwater (Bouwer, 2000).

Global water problems are neither homogenous nor constant or consistent over time. There is a spatio-temporal variation within a particular country as well as from one region to another. Solutions to these problems depend not only on water availability, but also on many other factors such as competence and capacities of institutions that manage them, availability of funds, climatic, social and environmental conditions of the countries concerned. They also depend on the levels and availability of technology, modes of governance and quality of academic research (Biswas, 2008).

Today, the perception about water goes to the very height of the increasing worldwide concern about human health, the environment, and the path towards sustainable development. Of all the

natural resources needed for economic development, water is one of the most essential, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. At the dawn of the 21st century, human kind is faced with multiple challenges of rapid population growth which increases the demand for the quantity of water to satisfy people’s needs both in agriculture and in expanding urban centers. Similarly, the failing water quality due to increasing pollution, groundwater depletion and attendant environmental impacts and health risks also pose other major challenges (Duda et al., 2000).

The impending water crises need both national and international attention. An estimated 1.4 billion people are presently living without access to safe drinking water, about 2.3 billion lack basic sanitation, 7 million die every year from water-borne diseases, and half of the world’s rivers and lakes are seriously polluted (Serageldin, 1999). Recent assessment conducted for the UN (World Meteorological Organization, 1998) and for the World Commission on Water (Seckler et al., 1999; Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, 1999) added a sense of urgency to these figures. Currently, almost half a billion people face shortages of water in 29 countries. By 2050, almost two-thirds of the people on our planet are forecast to experience some types of water stress, and for over a billion of them, the shortage will be severe and socially disruptive (Duda et al.,2000).

Research on water quality and pollution is very paramount, particularly in the developing countries like Nigeria where water availability to serve both domestic and industrial demands continues to be a problem of great concern. Water quality control and watershed management would only be possible with adequate information on the water bodies within a given locality, region or a country.

 

Therefore, continuous assessment of the quality of water supplied to the public is very important and necessary, in order to meet the United Nations’ campaign for providing good quality drinking water for all by the twenty first century (Knapp, 1989). The quality of water plays an important role because its mere availability does not qualify it for use, Biswas, (1998) reported that the qualities of water defines the extent of the uses it could be put. The better the quality of water the wider the range of uses it could be put. Thus, the need to properly assess the quality of water before and after treatment is of paramount importance. Different researches have been carried out by scholars (Iguisi et al 1999, Dim et al,2000, Butu 2002), on quality of groundwater, surface water, and pipe borne water, which some pollutants were found to be above the international permissible limit for water meant for domestic and agriculturaluses.

1.2   Statement of the ResearchProblem

 

The Tamburawa water treatment plant recieves its water supply from the Kano River which has its source from the foot slopes of the Jos Plateau located south of Kano. The water treatment plant supplies about 150million litres of treated water per day to the Kano populace. The plant was established in 2006 to supplement the water supplied by the old Challawa and Tamburawa treatment plants as well as to ease the problems of water scarcity in the state. The water treatment plant is the conventional water treatment system which involves the conventional procedure for water purification . The effectiveness of this conventional purification method to eliminate metal pollutants in the raw water has never been studied. There is a strong possibility that the river water may contain significant amount of metal pollutants because the Kano river drains a substantial part of the industrial section of Kano metropolitan area. Furthermore much of thedrainagebasinisunderintensivecultivationandasaresultreceivespollutantsthroughthe

 

application of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. In addition, Industrial and agricultural effluents known to contain metallic pollutants also drain into the river.

It was also observed during a reconnaissance visit to the plant that chemicals used to test for the presence of heavy metals were not always available in the plant’s laboratory. Hence this research emphasized on the analysis for the presence of some selected heavy metals and their current levels in the river before and after treatment in comparison with World Health Organization (WHO) water standards.

A lot of researches have been conducted to investigate the quality of surface andgroundwater for irrigation and domestic uses in the Kano region (Tanko, 2000). In the late 1970’s investigation into the natural drainage system around Bompai industrial zone in Kano, indicate that waste water discharge was the major source of pollution of the river (UNDP, 1978). Bello (1985), and Tanko (1987), reported similar findings in the Sharada industrialestate.

Another study by Akan et al.,(2007) on the level of pollutants in the effluents discharged by the Mario-Jose tannery in Kano, revealed that there were high levels of chromium and iron, which were above FEPA permissible limits. Levels of manganese, copper, zinc, lead and cobalt were also found to be within the minimum permissible limits for effluents discharged into the river. It was also discovered that there was a decrease in concentration of heavy metals with distance from point source up to 400 meters (Akan et al. 2007). Furthermore, a similar study by Akan et al., (2007) within the Kano river drainage basin found concentration of heavy metals to be significantly above USEPA and WHO permissible limits for drinking water. Levels of oxygen and phosphates were also observed to exceed FEPA tolerance limit for drinking water and water

meantfordomesticuses.AllthesestudiesbyAkanandco-authorswerecarriedoutattheupper

 

course of the Challawa River. To extend further on the scope of their works, this study analyzes water down stream where the Challawa and Kano rivers meet so as to capture the pollutants collected within both rivers and to asses the efficiency of the treatment plant in eliminating the three selected metals.

The selected elements are Copper, Manganese and Iron owing to their significance to human health at a certain quantity, as well as their potential hazards when present in high concentrations. The conventional treatment plants are usually successful in eliminating the organic pollutants through chlorination, but not the heavy metals because previous researches have revealed that such pollutants usually occur in concentrations above the World Health Organization (WHO) permissible limits especially in the up-stream area of theriver.

1.2               Aim andObjectives

 

The aim of this study is to compare the quality of water in the Tamburawa area of Kano River before and after treatment during the dry and rainy seasons. This will be achieved through the following objectives;

  • To determine the current levels of concentration of three selected pollutants in

 

  • To compare the quality of raw water in the river with the treatedwater.

 

  • To assess the level of purity of the treated water by comparing it with the WHOstandards

 

  • To asses the variations in the seasonal concentrations of these selected metals present in the watersamples.

1.3               Research Hypothesis

 

There is no significant difference in water quality between raw and treated water from the Kano River.

1.4   Scope of the study

 

The study focused on the Tamburawa area of the Kano river drainage basin and the new treatment plant. The sampling points were beside the water intake pipe within the Kano river for the raw water samples and a tap within the treatment plant for the treated water samples. Three metals were selected for the study (Cu, Mn and Fe) during a period of eight months across the rainy and dry seasons.

IMPACT OF WATER QUALITY FOR AGRICULTURE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

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