Physico-Chemical Properties and Heavy Metals Content of Groundwater around a Municipal Dumpsite in Gombe, Nigeria

The study examined the physico-chemical properties and heavy metals content of groundwater samples around a municipal solid waste dumpsite in Gombe, Nigeria. The samples were collected twice during the wet and dry seasons 2015. The samples were analysed for the following parameters pH, temperature, turbidity, conductivity, salinity, Dissolved oxygen (DO), Chemical oxygen demand (COD), Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), Total dissolved solids (TDS), Total suspended solids (TSS), anions (PO43-, NO2-, NO3-, SO42-, Cl-, NH4+-N) and heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Co, Zn, Cu, Cr, Cd, Pb). The results of the study revealed that most of the physical parameters recorded increased in content during the wet season over the dry season, due to the surface run off from storm water, while the chemical parameters increased during dry season and most of the parameters recorded in both seasons were below the WHO international standards for drinking water, except for high PO43- content (1.13 to 2.17 mg/L) recorded for the water samples in both seasons and Cr (0.01 to 1.2 mg/L) which exceeded the WHO permissible limit of 0.1 mg/L and 0.05 mg/L respectively. The water samples recorded significant increase (P