Assessement Of Water Quality Of Ekulu-Emene-River In Enugu State, Nigeria:- Iloghalu, Maryann C.

ABSTRACT

The quality of Ekulu-emene river is not guaranteed because of the high rate of anthropogenic degradation through municipal disposal, dump spots at the brigde, Industrial effluent discharge from Innoson technical Ltd and Emenite Ltd, agricultural runoff from near by farm lands, abattoir practices at the river bank, bathing, washing e.t.c. Communities around rely on it as their source of drinking, bathing, washing of cloths, irrigation e.t.c. The objective of the study was to determine the impact of these anthropogenic activities on Ekulu-Emene river. Water samples were collected from the study area and analyzed for physical, chemical and biological parameters. Parameters such as pH, alkalinity, salinity, conductivity, turbidity, total hardness, total solids (TS), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). All the water samples were slightly acidic (5.96- 6.54) The results were compared against drinking water quality standards laid down by World Health Organization (WHO) and Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water (NSDW). The surface waters have high levels of total dissolved solids, conductivity and low salinity. The BOD of the water showed that the water had high organic loading.The increases in pH, nitrates, iron, chloride, magnesium, BOD, DO, calcium and zinc in point A, B, C and D might be due to effluent discharge from lnnoson Technical Ltd and Emenite Ltd. The biological and microbial analysis indicate the presence of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas auregenosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Citrobacter frendii, Proteus mirabilis. Results also showed that the chemical and biological parameters exceeded the WHO and NIS permissible limits. It is recommended that the communities that depend on Ekulu-Emene river as their source of water supply should be boiling and filtering the water properly before domestic use especially drinking and cooking to avoid ingesting cyst e.g E.coli cyst. Other treatment methods like use of alum, lime or other local or natural means of water purification before using the water or chemical means e.g water guard detol and izol if available to the them for bathing, scrubbing and laundring is recommended to avoid skin reactions. Finally the communities should prohibit implicating activities e.g municipal disposal, Industrial effluent discharge, defecating and Abattoir practices at the river bank to avoid and reduce health risks.