DETERMINATION OF WATER QUALITY INDEX AND SEASONAL VARIATION IN PHYSICOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF BAKALORI DAM, ZAMFARA STATE

The public health is constantly been threaten due to chemical contaminants in drinking water, which may have immediate health consequences. Many sources of drinking water are susceptible to pollutants depending on the geological condition and other anthropogenic activities. To ensure the safety of drinking water, water quality index (WQI) has been used by combining the physical, chemical and biological parameters of water to arrive at a single index ration. This research was conducted to assess the quality of Bakolori Dam in Zamfara State over a period of twelve (12) months from Nov 2021 to Oct 2022.Four (4) stations were chosen for the study and water was collected using a 750ml plastic bottles and parameters were analyzed according to standard procedures of APA, WHO and UNEP. The mean values for temperature and turbidity are throughout the period higher than the permissible limit according to (WHO)thereby making the Bakolori Dam polluted. Dissolved oxygen mean values throughout the period was high, except January, February, March and October with mean values of 6.7, 5.6, and 7.9 Mg/l respectively. The ammonia and phosphate were all high throughout except in February (0.1Mg/l) and September (0.10 Mg/l) and October (0.10 Mg/l) respectively.The TSS values is thruogh out the period within the permissible level ranging from(17.5) to (62.5).The COD is through out normal except in three months( April,August and October.The overall water quality index values were less than January having the highest pollution rate of 7.21(WQI) and June (1.75) been less polluted as compared to the other months water quality scores. Therefore, it's recommended that emergency measure should be taken to augment the Dam water quality