SPATIO-TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF NITRATE CONCENTRATION IN RAINWATER IN ILORIN, KWARA STATE NIGERIA
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Date
2014
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FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN
Abstract
This study examined the spatio-temporal pattern of nitrate concentration in rainwater in florin, Kwara State, Nigeria. Thirty jive rainwater samples were collected from each of the five different land-uses using sterilized 75 centiliters plastic bottles on event basis between the onset and cessation of rainfall (March 4th- October 24th, 2013) in the study area. The collected water samples were subsequently analyzed for nitrate concentration ill University of florin Chemistry laboratory using sodium salicylate (colorimetric) method. Result obtained indicates high variability in both spatial and temporal patterns of nitrate concentration ill the study area. While the temporal pattern revealed high concentrations in the months of March, April, July and September; Oja-Oba, Asa Dam and Oke-Oyi areas of the city exhibits high degree of concentrations in that order spatially. Likely reasons for the observed pattern of concentrations were discussed while suggestions towards reducing the rate of pollution to biologically safe levels were presented.
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Keywords
Nitrate, N-Nitroso, Pollution, Carcinogens, Land-use