CHAPTER ONE(1)

1.1 INTRODUCTION: PORTABLE WATER

Portable water which is also known as improved drinking
water, is water that is save enough for drinking and for
preparation of food. According to statistics 89% of people
globally had access to water suitable for drinking, nearly
4billion had access to tap water while another 2.3billion had
access to wells or public taps but about 1.8 billion people still
use unsafe drinking water source which may be contaminated
by faeces and other contaminants which can result to
diseased state of health.(hall and Ellen,2000).
One of the most damaging problem facing Nigeria
(Langtang in particular) as a developing country has been the
inadequate supply of potable and safe water as such huge
water scarcity is the result which has forced inhabitants to
search for water good enough for their consumption (faniran
1983). Water is important for survival of all organisms, the
human body is made of approximately 70% water by mass,
adequate supply of safe and portable assist in preventing the
spread of gastrointestinal disease, support domestic and
personal hygiene and improves the standard of living
therefore safe drinking water is considered a right as much as
clean air is considered (Engar and smith, 2004). However
most of the world`s population does not have access to safe
drinking water, lack of portable water threatens the economy
of the country and the people health in different ways, this is

because dead vegetations, metal leachates from solid waste

dumps, leaching of rocks savage, industrial waste and
agricultural chemicals return eventually to the rivers as the
flow along, also the quality and quantity of water is affected
by an increase in anthropogenic activities and any population
either chemical of physical causes changes to the quality of
the recurring water body (Gongden and Lohdip ,
2009).chemical contaminants occur in drinking water through
out the world which could possibly threaten human health,
especially researching and learning how different chemicals
react in the body to damage cells and cause illness (Hornsby,
2009) these health effect could be acute or chronic, an acute
effect usually effect follows a large dose of chemicals example
lungs irritation, skin rash dizziness etc. but such levels of
chemicals rarely occurs. Whereas chronic health effect occur
long after exposure to small amount of chemicals example
mottled teeth in children and damage to the immune system
(john et al,1979).
Delivery of safe and portable water to communities in
plateau state (Langtang) is the responsibility of the
government, which the government has not been able to
meet in most cases. Most people in these areas depend on
well water as and available water source, the quality of this
well water generally are not guaranteed and at times pose
health problems to consumers who rely on them as a
dringking source (Aremu et al, 2011) assessing the physicochemical qualitity and heavy metal concentration of portable

water from Langtang area of plateau state, is necessing due

to cases of stained and mottle teeth in people living in those
areas.
It is crucial and important to investigate water
samples gotten from Langtang area, this will help in providing
more assurance as to its quality and ability to meet global
Human requirement, the need for this study is further backed
by incidence of occurance of materials and bacteria which is
considered harmfull and dangerous to human health,
examples are heavy metals
1.2 HEAVY METALS
Heavy metal refers to any metallic chemical that has a
relatively high density compared to water, It is toxic or
poisonous at even low concentrations examples are mercury
(Hg ), cadmium (cd), arsenic(As), chromium (Cr), thallium(Tl),
lead (pb) , manganese, nickel and selenium (oluyemi et
al,2010) these metals are defined based on having a specific
density of more than 5g/cm3 (okoye 1989).
According to WHO, exposure to heavy metals via drinking
water to cancer in lungs, kidney, bladder and skin therefore
population exposed to heavy metals in drinking water shows
high risk of mortality (essiet and Ajayi, 2000).
This study therefore is such as zinc, nickel, lead, iron,
cupper and arsenic in water sample obtained in five duplicate
or pairs in different locations in lantang local government of
plateau state,north central Nigeria. Through this it will be

possible to establish the suitability or otherwise of water

obtained through bore holes and shallow wells for human
consumptions
1.3 PHYSIO-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF WATER
Water is a polar inorganic compound, it is tasteless,
oduourless liquid, colourless with a hint of blue at room
temperature as an important solvent it is known as the
Universal solvent for its ability to dissolve many substances
it commonly exist in its solid, liquid and gas forms in nature.
(Itama and Sridhar, 2006) water molecules form hydrogen
bonds with each other they are strongly polar as such it
seperates ions in salt and strongly bond to other polar
substances such as alcohols and acids therefore dissolving
them, the hydrogen bonding properties causes its many
unique properties such as boiling point of 1000c as molar
mass and its high heat capacity. Water is amphoteric (it is
both acid and base) it produces H+ and 0H ions by self
ionization . this properties regulates the concentrations of H+
and 0H ions in water.