THE EFFECT OF COAL MINING ON THE WATER QUALITY OF WATER SOURCES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of coal mining on the drinking water quality of different water sources in Odagbo, Ankpa L.G.A., Kogi State, Nigeria.  Five water samples each, were collected during the dry season, inception of wet and peak wet seasons from the community’s three water sources. Physico-chemical properties such as electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), turbidity, pH, hardness of the water samples were analyzed. Heavy metal concentrations of the samples were also determined. The result of the chemical characterization placed the tailings in a semi-acidic group because 50% of its constituents oxides are of weak acid, therefore making the tailings a potential source of Acid mine drainage (AMD). The results for water quality test revealed that the values of EC, TDS, chloride,  and sulphate for the three water sources (pond, borehole and river) were within World Health Organization (WHO) and Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) safe limits for both the dry and wet seasons. The metallic levels of the metals studied were relatively low in all the water samples during the dry season with copper, chromium, manganese, cobalt, iron, lead and nickel not being detected. There was a reasonable increase in concentration of heavy metals during the wet seasons possibly as a result of AMD with metals like copper, chromium, cobalt and nickel not detected. The pollution indices of all the water samples during the sampled periods, exceeded the critical value of 100. The degrees of pollution of all the sampled water descended in the order; pond > river > borehole for all the seasons. Hence, borehole water is the best option for the community’s consumption after lime treatment to correct its acidity level.

Keywords

• Coal mining,water quality parameters,acid mine drainage,heavy metals

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