Explanatory Interaction Profile of Cd, Pb and Zn on the Relative Abundance of Fe as Response Variable in Drinking Water Quality Assessment

Aims: The present study determined the quality status of drinking water in some locations of Northeastern Nigeria and attempted to present an explanatory interaction profile of Cd, Pb and Zn on the bases of the relative abundance of Fe in the drinking water samples.

Study Design: The study was designed to follow a two step procedure viz. quality assessment of drinking water samples and explanatory interaction profile of Cd, Pb and Zn on the relative abundance of Fe using multiple linear regression analysis on quality data obtained.

Place and Duration of Study: National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) zonal laboratory, Maiduguri. April 2007 to June 2008.

Methodology: Random grab water sampling technique was adopted. The determination of Fe Cd, Pb and Zn in drinking water samples were performed using the standard methods of Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. Analyse-it (version 2.26) statistical software for Microsoft Excel was used to perform multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis for the explanatory interaction profile study.

Results: Result of drinking water quality status show that Fe was highest in all locations as anticipated and ranged between 1.317 ± 0.0192 mg/L and 0.14 ± 0.003 mg/L. Zn ranged between 0.015 ± 0.008 mg/L and 0.007 ± 0.004 mg/L. Cd concentration ranged from 0.004 ± 0.002 mg/L to 0.059 ± 0.001 mg/L while the mean Pb concentration ranged between 0.074 ± 0.021 mg/L and 0.001 ± 0.001 mg/L. Spectacularly Pb was not detected in all water samples from one of the three locations. MLR analysis revealed Pb as a key agent of reducing Fe concentration in the water systems and its impact tend to be more rigorous when the concentrations of Cd and Zn are comparatively higher than it.

Conclusion: The result of this study indicated the need for Contaminant Control Programmes, specifically for Cd and Pb in ground water. The findings of the MLR analysis show that Fe varied diversely due to difference in the aquifer location concentrations of all three explanatory variables. Fe was found to be potentially lowered by the shared presence of all three explanatory variables, which was greatly influenced by the presence of Pb.