Borehole water samples were collected from seven major locations covering an area of about
3,051km2
around Lapai metropolis in Niger State north-central Nigeria to evaluate its quality for
household and human drinking purposes. The area covered falls within longitude 9°03’N and
latitude 9°34’E. After each sample was collected, in-situ measurements were made for
conductivity, pH, and temperature using Sension Platinum Series portable pH and Conductivity
meter (HACH made). The results indicated that the values of pH in borehole BH1 and BH4 were
found to be 4.6 and 4.4 against the value recommended by the FEPA, 1998 and WHO, 1992 of
6.5 to 9, thus were very acidic due to dissolved minerals as a result of leaching or corrosion of
sink pipes. The pH values for BH2, BH3, BH5, and BH6 were 6.5 while BH7was 6.6 indicating
that they were recommended for consuming. The conductivity values obtained were very low
compared to the WHO 1992, 1993, 1996 and 1998 in the order of BH2< BH1 Meanwhile the value obtained from the boreholes BH4 and BH6 were higher above
recommended value of 160µs/cm. However, the toxic and nutritive trace metals analyzed using
Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric (AAS) from all the boreholes were very much low
compared to FEPA, 1998 and WHO, 1992, 1993, 1996 and 1998.