Abstract
The study of the chemical composition of rain water was conducted in Ile – Ife and environs, an agrarian, commercial, residential and semi-industrialised center of Osun state Nigeria. This was with a view to assessing the impact of land use activities on rain water composition and the temporal variation of rainwater chemistry. Physico-chemical parameters such as Turbidity, pH, TDS, Conductivity, Oxygen parameters, Alkalinity, Acidity, Hardness and Major ions (Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, NO3-, SO4-, HCO3-) were determined, predominant ions were identified. Turbidity, pH, Conductivity, TDS, D.O B.O.D, Alkalinity, Acidity Hardness ranged between 2.90 - 42.84 NTU, 5.65 - 7.40, 6.71 – 122.33 µScm-1, 4.10 –73.27 mg/L, 3.60 – 10.60 mg/L, 0.13 – 7.20 mg/L, 0.33 – 22.0 mg/L, 2.00 – 15.00 mg/L, 0.04 – 1.23 CaCO3mg/l respectively. The dominant ions detected in the study were HCO3-, Mg2+, Na+ and Ca2+. Generally, the mean concentration of ions as expressed in milli-equivalent per Litre showed order of dominance as HCO3- > NO3- > SO42- for the anions and Mg2+ > Na+ > Ca2+ > K+ for cations. The study concluded that land use activities had influence on all the chemical composition of rain water in the study area but more on pH, alkalinity, acidity, bicarbonate. Except sulphate and Nitrate, all other parameters recorded high values in dry season.
Highlights
Rainwater has become an alternative source of water especially for domestic uses, agricultural uses and other potable uses where surface water resources are not available or sufficient (Muhammed and Mooyoung 2008; Yosef and Asmamaw 2015)
The sampling stations were chosen based on land use activities in the study area using the land use classification model according to the National land use classification system and the Michigan Resource Information System (MIRIS) for land cover and land use mapping (Anderson et al 1976)
This is in line with the report of Ranjit et al (1998) and Remirez et al (2010). pH was higher at agrarian area (6.87 ±0.12) and significantly (P
Summary
Rainwater has become an alternative source of water especially for domestic uses, agricultural uses and other potable uses where surface water resources are not available or sufficient (Muhammed and Mooyoung 2008; Yosef and Asmamaw 2015). Change in rainwater chemistry has become a great concern in Nigeria and the world at large because of occurrences of acid rain, heavy metal depositions, etc. The assessment of the change in rainwater chemistry and the determination of factors influencing the recent atmospheric chemical alterations can be challenging. Chemical species and their concentration in rainwater are results of the various activities and conditions the atmosphere is subjected to. This is mostly as a result of man-made activities and land use activities (local source) in the area (Efe 2010; Oden 1976)
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