COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND AND CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND OF ONU IMO SECTION OF IMO RIVER AND FISH POND WATER FROM NATIONAL ROOT CROP RESEARCH INSTITUTE (NRCRI)

ABSTRACT

A comparative study of biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand of Onu Imo section of Imo River and fish pond water from NRCRI was undertaken.  Water sample were collected at 12 hours intervals for 5 days of a week from Imo River water and for 3 days from fish pond water and analyzed for COD and BOD.  Winkler method was used fro BOD while water examination EPA was used for COD. Results obtained show that the COD and BOD varied significantly with the time of Sampling and sampling point between the Imo River and fish pond water samples respectively. The COD was highest in the downstream ranging from 7.38 mg/l obtained in the evening to 18.67mg/l in the morning .the upstream had lower COD ranging from 4.83mg/L to 10.48mg/L. in the fish pond the highest value of 12.27mg/l was recorded in the first day while the lowest value of 4.83mg/l recorded in the second day. Similar variations were recorded in the BOD of the samples. The BOD was highest in the morning downstream sample (15.47mg/) and least in the evening downstream (5.03mg/l). Again BOD was higher in the downstream than in the upstream. The upstream BOD ranged 3.80mg/l to10.10mg/l.  The fish pond water had a highest BOD of 10.33mg/l and least value of 4.43mg/l. It was observed that the values varied and comparatively, did not measure up with the world health standard. This was seen as having potential risk to aquatic life. The need for treatment of Onu Imo section of Imo River is required.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page ﾿ i

Certification ﾿ ii

Dedication ﾿ iii

Acknowledgement ﾿ iv

Table of Contents ﾿ v

List of Tables ﾿ vii

Abstract ﾿ viii

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 ﾿ Introduction ﾿ 1

1.2 ﾿ Aims and Objectives ﾿ 4

1.3 ﾿ Statement of Problem ﾿ 4

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 ﾿ The Nature of Water ﾿ 5

2.1.1 ﾿ Brief Overview of Imo River ﾿ 6

2.2 ﾿ Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) ﾿ 7

2.2.1 ﾿ The Significance of BOD ﾿ 9

2.2.2 ﾿ Limitation of the BOD Test ﾿ 10

2.3 ﾿ Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) ﾿ 10

2.4 ﾿ Oxidants Used for COD Testing ﾿ 13 ﾿

2.5 ﾿ Comparison of COD to BOD ﾿ 14

CHAPTER 3

MATERIALS AND METHODS16

3.1    Sources of Material ﾿ 16

3.2 ﾿ Sample Preparations ﾿ 16

3.3 Determination of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) ﾿ 16

3.4 ﾿ Determination of Chemical Oxygen Demand ﾿ 17

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 ﾿ Result ﾿ 19

4.1 ﾿ Chemical Oxygen demand for Onu Imo Section of Imo River ﾿ 20

4.2 ﾿ Chemical Oxygen Demand for Fish Pond of NRCRI Umudike ﾿ 22

4.3 ﾿ Biochemical oxygen demand for Onu Imo River ﾿ 24

4.4 ﾿ Biochemical oxygen Demand of fish Pond ﾿ 26

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1 ﾿ Discussion      ﾿ 28

5.2 ﾿ Conclusion ﾿ 29

5.3 ﾿ Recommendation ﾿ 30

REFERENCES