The quality of water resources in any ecosystem provides significant information about the available resources for supporting life in such ecosystem. The study therefore assessed the physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of water samples from the Borgu Sector of Kainji Lake National Park, Nigeria. The study was carried out at Borgu sector of KLNP purposively selected based on the availability of perennial waterholes. Water samples were collected from four waterholes for two seasons (dry and wet). Water samples were subjected to physicochemical [temperature, pH, total dissolved solid, electrical conductivity, total suspended solids, dissolved oxygen (DO), nitrate, chloride, phosphate, sulphate, biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand (COD)] and microbiological (total coliform and fungal counts) analyses using standard methods. Data collected were subjected to descriptive statistics and T-test at α0.05 and compared with WHO permissible limits. The result showed that DO and COD levels of all the water samples were above the WHO guideline while there were significant seasonal variation in the values of temperature (t=4.93), EC (t=2.46), TDS (t=2.33), nitrate (t=3.66), chloride (t=4.91) and COD (t=4.23) in the waters sampled across the seasons of sampling. Salmonella / Shigella and Staphylococcus aureus were observed to be absent while the total coliform and fungi counts were observed to be higher than the WHO permissible limit for drinking water. The presence of thermo-tolerant such as Klebsiella sp and Enterobacter sp observed in the study may be an indication of faecal contamination. Periodical monitoring of the river water quality in Kainji Lake National Park is required to protect drinking water resources, encourage recreational activities and provide a good enabling environment for wildlife.
Keywords: Anthropogenic Activities, Kainji Lake National Park, Seasonal variation, Water Quality
