Most of its course passes through open savanna woodland, but its lower section has cut several gorges above its entrance into the extensive Niger floodplains.

Urban and industrial wastes have been linked to elevated temperatures and heavy metal concentrations in the River Kaduna (Arah, 1985).

Untreated industrial wastes that are carelessly dumped directly or indirectly into River Kaduna's inflow wastewaters have been determined to be a source of pollution.

[7] In 2022, flooding from the Kaduna river caused significant property damage to the surrounding area.

[8] In November 2022, two teenagers identified as Zakaria Aliyu Yahaya and Yusuf Abdullahi, aged 17 and 16 of the Government Secondary School in Zaria, reportedly drowned while swimming in the Kogin Mutuwa in Kaduna.