Assessment of the Impact of Solid Waste Dumps on Ground Water Quality, Calabar Municipality, Nigeria

Abstract

Solid waste dump where leachate generated is allowed to escape to the surrounding and underlying water body is a major threat to borehole water. This study was designed to assess the impact of solid waste dumps on ground water quality and the current status of the quality of borehole water in Calabar municipality. Randomly selected boreholes around Lemna road where the final dump site of solid waste in Calabar is located, Etta Agbor area where there are no major dumpsites but a few sporadic dumps and Satellite town where there are relatively no dumpsites were thoroughly examined. Physicochemical properties of water quality were determined following standard analytical procedure and metal content by atomic absorption Spectrophotometry using Shimadzu atomic absorption spectrophotometer (model AA6800, Japan). Metal content and other physicochemical parameters generally displayed the trend Lemna road > Etta Agbor road > Satellite town. The differences were found to be statistically significant (ANOVA, p < 0.05), suggesting that solid waste dumpsites have reasonable influence on the quality of ground water in Calabar municipality. A significant (p < 0.01) positive correlation was observed between each of the metals and between the metals and most of the physicochemical parameters, suggesting that a similar source is responsible for their presence at the concentration determined. When ompared with WHO drinking water standards, borehole water in the study area especially Lemna road was seriously implicated. The study thus concludes that solid waste dumps in Calabar municipality have significant influence on the quality of ground water and that continuous use of borehole water from the study area for drinking or other domestic purposes without any form of physical or chemical treatment could pose serious toxicological risk. It was therefore recommended that ground water in Calabar municipality should be put under surveillance in other to protect it from further degradation and safeguard public health.