Seasonal Variations in the Physicochemical Parameters of Ikpoba River Water Samples

Water is one of the most common natural resources that profoundly influence life. Water pollution occurs when there is adverse change in the physical, chemical or biological condition of the water which harmfully affects the quality of human life including other animal and plants life. Studies on River water pollution and their implication to public health have been ongoing. An assessment of the seasonal changes in the physicochemical properties of Ikpoba River, Benin City, Nigeria polluted by brewery effluent was carried out between the months of January to March and May to July for the dry and wet seasons’ respectively. Standard procedures were employed in the study. Results showed a temperature range of 23 0 C to 33 0 C. The dry season Discharge point (DP) sample had the highest temperature. The pH values of most of the samples were within the optimum range for aquatic organisms (6.5 9.0). There was a significant difference (p<0.05) in pH along the sampling points and days in the two seasons. The range of the electrical conductivity was 70 1750μs/cm in dry season and 90.2 – 1320 μs/cm in wet season. The discharge point (DP) samples had the highest values followed by the downstream (DS) samples with the upstream (US) samples having the lowest values. Salinity in the dry season was higher than those of the wet season. Physical and spectrophotometric assessment showed remarkable color change particularly in the DP samples followed by the DS samples. The effect was mild in the US samples. Turbidity values in this study ranged from 2.8NTU 16.1NTU with higher values during the wet season. Total suspended solid (TSS) ranged from 4.2 mg/l 39.9mg/l. Total dissolved solid (TDS) were higher in the dry season. There was significant difference (p<0.05) in DO along the sampling points and days in dry and wet seasons. The Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) values were much higher than those of BOD5. There was significant difference (p<0.05) in COD and BOD5 along the sampling points and days in the two seasons. Carbonate, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, ammonium, nitrate, chloride and sulphate. There was significant difference (p<0.05) in nitrate composition along the sampling points and days in the two seasons. There was significant difference (p<0.05) in lead composition along the sampling point in the two seasons except on Day 42 at DS and US. There was presence of hydrocarbon (HC) in water the samples which showed significant difference (p<0.05) along the sampling points throughout the period of study. The physicochemical properties of the River showed that it is unfit for human consumption and is a cause for public health concern. Key-words: Physicochemical properties, seasonal variation, River water samples, pollution INTRODUCTION Water is a common natural resource indispensable for all living organisms. It is one of the most important factors that profoundly influence life. Water pollution occurs when there is change in the physical, chemical or How to cite this article Akpe AR, Femi IJ, Okwu GI, Obiazi H. Seasonal Variations in the Physicochemical Parameters of Ikpoba River Water Samples. Int. J. Life. Sci. Scienti. Res., 2018; 4(3): 1810-1821 Access this article online www.ijlssr.com biological condition in the environment which harmfully affects the quality of human life including other animal and plant life . In other to determine the state of pollution in rivers, a continuous monitoring of water quality is essential. Water quality deals with the physical, chemical and biological features in relation to all other hydrological properties. Deterioration of surface water quality has been attributed to both natural processes and anthropogenic activities, including hydrological features, climate change, precipitation, agricultural land use, and sewage discharge . Research Article Copyright © 2015 2018| IJLSSR by Society for Scientific Research under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International License Volume 04 | Issue 03 | Page 1810 Int. J. Life. Sci. Scienti. Res. eISSN: 2455-1716 Akpe et al., 2018 DOI:10.21276/ijlssr.2018.4.3.12 Good water quality resources depend on a large number of physicochemical parameters and the magnitude and sources of any pollution load, and to assess that, monitoring of these parameters is essential . Monitoring of water quality parameters provides important information for water management . Good management of water bodies is required if they are to be used for diverse purposes such as domestic and industrial supply, irrigation, transport, recreation, and fisheries . Urbanization and industrialization have increased the extent of pollution of rivers. Pollution affects the ecosystems and significantly depletes biodiversity of species. Ikpoba River, Benin City, Edo State receives effluents from Guinness Plc. (a brewery industry). Brewery effluents are rich in organic and inorganic substances capable of producing adverse effects on the lives of humans and the ecosystem. Ikpoba River is a fourth order stream located in Benin City, Edo State in Southern, Nigeria. It is one of such Rivers that receive domestic, abattoir and agricultural waste from Oregbeni and other communities living at its banks. Pollution is said to have occurred when the values of certain physicochemical parameters such as pH, temperature, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Electrical Conductivity (EC), salinity, turbidity, Total Suspended Solid (TSS), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5), and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) are above the recommended standard for drinking . Ikpoba River receives large quantity of wastes, directly from the brewery effluents and indirectly within the metropolis through runoff resulting in complete deterioration of water quality. The largest share of pollution comes from the brewery influents, and the untreated wastes, in turn, contaminate the River, which adversely affect the aquatic lives with concomitant negative effect on human health . The healthy environment and sufficient nutrients are essential for living and growth of aquatic organisms. Physicochemical characteristics of the water body help to determine the productivity level of aquatic organisms. The highest productivity is obtained when the physical and chemical parameters are at the ideal level. Water quality contributes to helping decision-making process for pollution control in environment protection purpose . A number of studies have been carried out on Ikpoba River . Water quality assessment is a continuous process as it gives an update of the health status of water and its suitability for diverse purposes such as bathing, drinking, irrigation and its ability to support aquatic lives . This study is very important because it deals with the comparative analysis of the physiochemical properties of Ikpoba River in dry and wet seasons. MATERIALS AND METHODS Samples collectionWater samples were collected from Ikpoba River at three different sampling points. The sampling points were designated upstream (US), Downstream (DS), and Discharge point (DP). The three sampling points were 100 m distant from each other. Three samples were collected into a 500ml clean sterile screw cap container from each sampling point making a total of nine (9) samples at each time of sampling and this was done fortnightly for 10 times for the two seasons. The samples were collected by immersing the sample container 30cm deep into the River towards the current. Dry season samples were collected from January to March 2017 and wet season samples were obtained from May to July 2017. Samples were analyzed at the Microbiology Laboratory of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria. Determination of Physicochemical parametersThe physicochemical parameters investigated include temperature which was determined in-situ using a digital thermometer (Kris-Alloy model) with an accuracy of ±0.4C, pH was determined in-situ using a pH meter (Hanna model, H196107), with pH range of 0-14, conductivity was determined in-situ using a conductivity meter, salinity was determined using a salinometer, turbidity was measured using HACH turbidimeter, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5) was determined by modified Winkler’s method , Total suspended solid (TSS) was determined by gravimetric method, Dissolved Oxygen (DO) was determined by modified Winkler’s method . Chemical oxygen demand (COD) was determined as described , Carbonate (HCO3) by using phenolphthalein and methyl orange indicator method, Phosphorus by Ascorbic Acid Reduction colorimetric method , Chloride was determined by silver nitrate titration method , Ammonium nitrogen (NH4N) by the method described by American Public Health Association , Nitrate was determined by Brucine colorimetric Copyright © 2015 2018| IJLSSR by Society for Scientific Research under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International License Volume 04 | Issue 03 | Page 1811 Int. J. Life. Sci. Scienti. Res. eISSN: 2455-1716 Akpe et al., 2018 DOI:10.21276/ijlssr.2018.4.3.12 method, Sulphate by turbidimetric method . The colour was determined by the spectrophotometric method, sodium and potassium were determined by flame photometry. Total Hydrocarbon (THC) was determined as described by American Public Health Association . All heavy metals: Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cr, Cd, Ni, Pb, V were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric (AAS) method. Statistical Analysis The data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) while significant means were separated with Duncan’s multiple range tests using SPSS 17.0 statistics. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The physicochemical parameters investigated in the two (wet and dry) seasons include: temperature, pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), salinity, colour, turbidity, Total Suspended Solid (TSS), Total Dissolved Solid (TDS), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demands (BOD5), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), carbonate (HCO3) sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (mg), chloride (Cl), phosphorus (P), ammonium nitrogen (NH4N), nitrate (NO3), sulphate (SO4), heavy me