E-ISSN 2281-4612 ISSN 2281-3993 Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy Vol 4 No 3 November 2015 271 Effects of Land-Uses on the Quality of Imabolo Stream in Ankpa Urban Area of Kogi State, Nigeria 1 Michael Chukwuma Obeta 1 Hydrology and Water Resources Unit, Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, Nsukka Email- michaelobeta@yahoo.com 2* Johnmark Friday Ocheje 2 Environmental Management Unit, Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, Nsukka * Corresponding author: Email- johnmark.ocheje.pg62882@unn.edu.ng 3 Victor Chukwunweike Nwokocha Industrial Geography, Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, Nsukka Email- chukwuweike_nwokocha@yahoo.com Doi:10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n3p271 Abstract This study examined the effects of land-use on the quality of Imabolo stream in Ankpa urban area of Kogi State, Nigeria. The objective is to examine how the diverse land-use types along the stream environment affect pollutant load of the stream which is used extensively for domestic purposes by the residents. To achieve the aim of the study, water samples were collected from seven locations along the stream reach corresponding to the identified land-uses in the study area in March and June, 2014. Eighteen physico-chemicals and two microbiological parameters were analyzed using standard procedures. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data obtained. The results were also compared with WHO and NSDWQ standard for drinking water quality for characterization. The analysis revealed six water samples had elevated values of parameters above the recommended limits for human consumption. Descriptive statistics revealed consistent variations in the concentrations of parameters in water samples among land-use zones, while student t-test showed significant difference (p<0.05) in the quality of water samples between dry and rainy seasons. Water samples from commercial, educational, industrial and residential land- uses returned the highest levels of pollutants concentration. This is probably due to high intensity of human activities within these land-use types. The study advocated apposite recommendations to remediate and improve the quality of the stream water in these areas in order to reduce the risk to which the growing urban population is exposed to. Keywords: Stream Water quality, Land-uses, Urban, Pollutant Concentrations, Seasonal Variation, Remediation 1. Introduction Land-use type simply refers to the specific use to which a given piece of land is used for, and the relationship between land use type and environmental pollution is frequently discussed in literature (Dylan et al., 2005). Changes in land-use occur as a result of economic development, population growth, technology, removal of vegetation and rapidly growing demand for natural resources (Alemayehu, 2015; Houghton, 1994). Pollution from urban land-use activities affect surface water quality by adding sediment, nutrients, toxics, organic materials, and pathogens to surface and ground waters (Marquita et al., 2007). Water quality is a major determinant of the integrity of water resources and its decline post great risk to users and place pressure on peoples’ water needs globally (Raji and Ibrahim, 2011). Water is polluted through direct or indirect introduction of chemicals and other substances to water sources, and this renders it unfit for its intended purpose (Hussain et al., 2008). Impaired water is of great health challenge and it accounts for over 1.7 million deaths world-wide every year (Ashbolt, 2004). Water-related diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, bilharzias and so on affect the poor local people who lack potable water and as such resorted to using contaminated stream and underground water for drinking and domestic purposes (Galadima et al., 2011). In many developing countries including Nigeria, there are extensive variations in land-use types along stream channels. These land-use changes result from various activities such as agriculture, residential, industrial and