Abstract
Rivers Wouri and Meme are surrounded by streams and wells and serve for irrigation, fishing, domestic purposes and transportation. Water samples were collected from the rivers in February (dry season) and August (wet season) of 2012 at different sites and at different depths and analyzed for some physicochemical properties. This was to study the effect of seasonal changes on the properties and also infer the possible sources of pollution. Water from the other sources was also analyzed. All analyses were done using standard methods. The properties were generally higher during the dry season. Both rivers were acidic. The Electrical conductivities (E.Cs) of River Wouri were generally much lower than those of River Meme with mean values of 2943.0 and 5703.0 μS/cm respectively during the dry season. Ca2+/Mg2+ ratios for upstream in River Meme were greater than 3 during the dry season. During the dry season, in Wouri at site WO1, Cations and anions decreased with depth, while at site WO7, the same properties increased with depth. For River Meme at site ME1, there was no significant (p<0.01) variation of cations and anions with depth. On the contrary, at site ME8, the anions increased with depth while the cations decreased significantly (p<0.01) with depth. The streams were weakly basic with average pH of 8.3 for those of Wouri and 9.0 for those around River Meme. The streams around River Wouri generally had higher physicochemical properties. Physicochemical properties of the wells of Wouri were generally higher than those of the streams during both seasons. There was a very significant correlation (p < 0.01) between nitrate and choride ions in both rivers during the dry season. Most of the properties were within the levels set by World Health Organization and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The water sources are exposed to increases in anthropogenic activities, such as industrial and municipal waste disposal and farming practices. A more stringent legislation about water management, as well as studies about the biological content of the water sources is recommended. Key words: Physicochemical, properties, Meme, Wouri, rivers, dry season, wet season.
Highlights
Water is primordial among the needs of living things and man’s most urgent need is good water
In Wouri at site WO1, located at upsteam, Cations and anions decreased with depth, while at site WO7, located at downstream, the same properties increased with depth (Table 4)
The pH of the rivers and most other physico-chemical properties of the rivers were within the acceptable limits of WHO except in the upstream of River Meme where the pH > 9.00 was high
Summary
Water is primordial among the needs of living things and man’s most urgent need is good water. In subSaharan Africa, almost all communities in coastal areas depend on groundwater for drinking and domestic purposes (Edet, 2008) This is because it is readily available and is relatively cleaner than surface water sources, which are exposed to pollution from domestic wastes and runoff especially during the rainy season. This work is aimed at investigating some physicochemical properties water sources that feed certain mangroves of Cameroon and relating them to natural and/or anthropogenic activities within this subregion. It is aimed at comparing the effect of seasonal changes and the relative threats on the mangroves from the quality of the water sources and make concrete recommendations
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