IDENTIFICATION OF ANTHROPOGENIC INFLUENCES ON WATER QUALITY OF JAKARA RIVER, NORTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Jakara River, northwestern, Nigeria has been found to be polluted by various sources of pollution associated with excessive land use. This study attempted to identify the sources of pollution in the Jakara Basin using principal component analysis and factor analysis (PCA/FA). Four different sampling points were designed along Jakara River and surface water samples were collected for sixty days. Fifteen physico-chemical parameters were analyzed which includes: water temperature, turbidity, salinity, conductivity, pH, nitrates (NO3-), ammonia-nitrate (NH3-NL), total solids (TS), suspended solids (SS), dissolved solids (DS), 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved oxygen (DO), phosphates (PO43-), and chloride (Cl). PCA/FA extracted five principal components (PCs) explaining 70.7% of the total variance of the raw data. PCA/FA showed that Jakara River is influenced mostly by organic and nutrients (anthropogenic) pollution from domestic wastewater and little contribution from geology of the area, erosion and farmland run-off. These results provide fundamental information for the authorities to take sound action for developing better water pollution control and effective management of river water quality in the area.