The physic-chemical and biological characteristics of River Benue from Bwaranji to Gerio in Adamawa state of Nigeria were monitored for a period of three months in the dryseaso(February–April). The range of mean values of the various parameters are as follows: temperature (22.3 – 23.8oC), electrical conductivity (45.5 – 112.0 μs/cm), velocity (3.3 - 43.3cm/s), total dissolved solids (510.0 – 960 mg/l), TS (1500.0 – 2680.0 mg/l), pH (7.6-7.9), calcium (9.0-20.4 mg/l), magnesium (9.0-20.6 mg/l), iron(0.2-0.3 mg/l), chromium (0.04 – 0.026 mg/l), lead (0.3 – 0.6 mg/l), zinc (0.2 -0.3 mg/l) phosphate (7.3- 11.5 mg/l), nitrate (2.9 -5.2 mg/l) DO (23.0 -30.1 mg/l), BOD (2.8 – 4.2 mg/l), COD (6.3 – 8.0 mg/l) and Escherichia Coli (180.3 – 261.0 cfu/100ml). The TDS at the various locations were above the set standards for drinking water of 500.0 mg/l. The mean values of lead were above the set standards for public supply and marine aquatic life of 1.0 mg/l and 0.05 mg/l respectively. The mean concentrations of phosphate at all locations were also above the set standard of 0.0001 mg/l for marine aquatic life. The possible causes of pollution were agricultural activities, domestic and solid waste discharges into the river.
