ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF OIL PRODUCING COMMUNITIES IN PART OF THE NIGER DELTA. A CASE STUDY OF IBENO, IKOT ABASI, ONNA AND ESIT-EKET LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA IN AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

An Environmental Impact Assessment was initiated to monitor the distribution and effect of petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants on the quality of the surface water, groundwater, and sediments of Ibeno, Esit-Eket, Onna, and Ikot Abasi. Eighty-one (81) samples were randomly collected from surface water, boreholes, and soil for analyses based on the standard physiochemical parameters for comparison with the World Health Organization (WHO) standard. The variation in the average pH of water was not significant (6.5 to 8.0), well within the range for unpolluted streams. However, the total hydrocarbon content (THC) of the sediments was greater than 200 mg/kg, which is the limit, thus indicating heavy pollution by hydrocarbons. The pollution indices for the potential contaminants were also determined, in which the pollution index of surface water samples and borehole water sample is <1 indicating an unpolluted water body, while the pollution index of sediment samples was > 1, showing polluted sediments.