Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution of Water, Sediments and Algae in River Benue at Jimeta-Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria

A A Tyovenda,S I Ikpughul,T Sombo

doi:10.46912/napas.44

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution of water, sediments and Algae in the upper region of River Benue at Jimeta-Yola, Adamawa state, Nigeria was assessed. The concentrations of the heavy metals (Pb, Hg, Ni, Cu, Cr, Zn, Mn, Fe) in the samples were analyzed using Atomic Adsorption Spectrometer. Pollution parameters such as enrichment factor, contamination factor, pollution load index and geo-accumulation index were evaluated. The result of heavy metal analysis showed that, the concentration (ppm) of the metals in water samples ranged as follows: Pb(0.25-0.50), Hg(0.00-2.00), Ni(0.10-0.31), Cu(0.03-0.13), Cr(0.00-1.33), Zn(0.01-0.04), Mn(0.03-0.06) and Fe(105.15-118.75) respectively. This result when compared with the EPA maximum permissible limits for drinking water showed that, all the metals except Cu and Zn had values above the permissible limits. The evaluation of enrichment factor revealed that, Hg showed extremely high enrichment while Pb showed significant enrichment for Algae, water and sediment samples. The contamination factor showed low contamination for all metals except Hg which showed considerable contamination for sediments, water and Algae samples. The pollution load index for sediments, water and Algae indicated no pollution. The geo-accumulation index of the metals in sediments, water and Algae indicates no or minimal pollution. The samples were enriched with Hg and Pb. These metals are capable of causing various types of cancer, brain and kidney damage among other ailments.

Highlights

Pollution is defined as the undesirable state of the natural environment being contaminated with harmful substances as a consequence of human activities
Pollutants in the aquatic ecosystem stimulate the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can damage fish and other aquatic organisms leading to their population decline
The sediment and Algae samples were collected in black polyethylene bags while the water samples were collected in 1litre plastic containers and tagged for identification

Summary

Introduction

Pollution is defined as the undesirable state of the natural environment being contaminated with harmful substances as a consequence of human activities. Examples of heavy metals includes: lead, mercury, and copper, among others. These are all naturally occurring substances which are often present in the environment at low levels; in large amounts, they can be dangerous (Sabine and Wendy, 2009). Pollution of heavy metals in aquatic environment is a growing problem worldwide and has reached an alarming rate during the recent years, because they are indestructible and most of them have toxic effects on living organisms (Ogoyi et al, 2011; Öztürk et al, 2009; Mmolawa et al, 2011). Heavy metal pollution in the aquatic ecosystem may have a very great effect on the Algae (which constitute the main food source for bivalve molluscs in all their growth stages) zooplankton and for larval stages of some crustacean and fish species. Apart from destroying the aquatic ecosystem, the accumulation of these toxic metals in aquatic food chain is a threat to public health (Ogoyi et al, 2011; Singh and Kalamdhad, 2011)

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Discussion

Conclusion