Assessment of the Water Quality of the Odugbo River in Benue State, Nigeria for Irrigation Farming

Food insecurity remains a pressing global issue, particularly in rapidly growing communities such as Odugbo, which may face challenges in sustaining food supply due to increasing population pressure. To mitigate this, the adoption of off-season irrigation farming becomes essential. In this study, water samples were collected during the dry season from three points along a river in the Odugbo area: the upper course (P1), middle course (P2), and lower course (P3). Physical parameters, heavy metal concentrations using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS), and anion levels via titration methods were analyzed. The results showed: Temperature 28.2 ± 0.05 – 28.60 ± 0.05 °C, pH 6.12 ± 0.063 – 6.79 ± 0.05, TDS 1022 ± 2.00 – 1026 ± 2.00 mg/L, DO 5.75 ± 0.11 – 7.19 ± 0.09 mg/L, BOD 0.13 ± 0.01 – 0.57 ± 0.05 mg/L, Electrical Conductivity 825 ± 3.00 – 875 ± 4.00 µS/cm, Turbidity 1.7 ± 0.00 – 2.1 ± 0.00 NTU, Pb 0.521 ± 0.852 mg/L, Zn 0.140 ± 0.003 – 0.158 mg/L, Cu 0.212 ± 0.027 – 0.751 ± 0.023 mg/L, Mn 0.141 ± 0.003 – 0.162 ± 0.002 mg/L, Cd 0.221 ± 0.002 – 0.231 ± 0.003 mg/L, Cl⁻ 80.61 ± 0.010 – 110.58 ± 0.022 mg/L, NO₃⁻ 25.81 ± 0.01 – 45.33 ± 0.01 mg/L, PO₄³⁻ 0.023 ± 0.0007 – 0.190 ± 0.01 mg/L, and SO₄²⁻ 78.53 ± 0.001 – 115.22 ± 0.02 mg/L. The findings suggest that the river water is generally suitable for irrigation farming, as most of the tested parameters fall within the FAO-recommended limits for irrigation water quality.