The paper attempts to determine the quality of groundwater in Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria. Four functional boreholes were sampled from the study area which is highly populated with students, and was analyzed using the standard laboratory techniques. Choba water was found to be tasteless and odorless. The color indices ranged from 3.8 to 5.3 mg/L, while the average turbidity (NTU) was 2.3. The results showed that the ground water in the area was acidic with a pH range of 4.32 to 4.43, which falls below the World Health Organization (WHO) standard for drinking water, and hence, there is a need to treat the entire borehole water in the area to make it more potable. Water treatment will also help to reduce the concentration level of the constituent elements in water. The waters have low to moderate conductivities (11.82 to 61.20 mg/L), and have Cl^_ as the dominant anion, with a mean value of 2.5 mg/L. The Cl^_ value shows the absence of salt water intrusion into the area. Also, the highest recorded value of 50 mg/L for hardness is indicative of soft groundwater.

The Choba town in the Eastern Niger Delta, Nigeria, has abundant ground water potentials. The area which houses the University of Port Harcourt is, however, prone to water contamination arising from industrial activities and oil field operation within the region. One of the prerequisites of everyday activity and any sustainable development program is the presence of adequate supply of quality water for human consumption. Groundwater constitutes over 90% of the world's readily available freshwater resources with remaining 10% in lakes, reservoirs, rivers and wetlands (Baswinkel, 2000 and Asonye et al., 2007). Freshwater quality and availability remains one of the most critical environmental and sustainable issues of the 21^st century (UNEP, 2002).

This study is aimed at determining how the dissolved aquiferous sedimentary rock minerals from different sedimentary layers affect the quality of the analyzed water samples. Surface or underground water is never really chemically pure as water invariably dissolves some of the minerals it comes in contact with, at any given time (Etu-efeotor, 1998). These dissolved minerals are contained in the groundwater which influences its hydrogeochemistry and ultimate quality. In this study, four water borehole samples located in Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria, were assessed for quality checks by physicochemical analysis of the samples in the laboratory. The values of the physicochemical parameters like pH, conductivity, hardness, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), presence of heavy metals, acidity, alkalinity, color etc., were correlated with the World Health Organization (WHO, 1993) values. The quality of water, and therefore its usability is determined by the composition of these chemicals in it.

Environmental Sciences Journal, Groundwater in Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria, World Health Organization, Freshwater Resources, Physicochemical Parameters, Geoelectric Survey, physicochemical Analysis, Sedimentary Rocks, Hydrogeochemistry, Neuromuscular Effects, Dolomite Granules.