Assessment of the Pollution Load of the Woji Creek Water Body, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, South-South, Nigeria

Abstract

What quality assessment is the general process of evaluating the physical, chemical and biological nature of a given water body. Some major water quality indicators are Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) (Iyamaet al., 2017).Organic pollution and eutrophication indices can be used to quantify the level of water pollution (Liuet al., 2011). Six latent factors could be identified as water quality pollution indices which are; organic, nutrient, physico-chemical, weathering, soil leaching and toxic-anthropogenic (Simeonovetal., 2003).Research has shown that water quality sources are poorer in rivers than in reservoirs (Wang et al., 2009). Water pollution has become a dynamic challenge and threat to the human race and the environment for some time now (Bu et al., 2009). Determination of the pollution potential of the Woji Creek water using selected physico-chemical parameters is of essence due to the strategic position of this water body. The Woji Creek has experienced a lot of human activities due to the location near an industrial area known as the Trans-Amadi Industrial Layout. According to Anya, Ezekwe and Oyegun (Anya etal., 2017), Sand bag formation and bank erosion around the Cocaine Estate area is a potential threat to urban renewal. Human inputs lead to pollution of the Woji Creek water which poses adverse health risks (Duru et al., 2018). The different sources of water pollution can either be domestic, natural and industrial (Iyama etal., 2017). The levels of pollution of water bodies is quite high and pose greater risk to biodiversity.An effect of hydrocarbon pollution on the mullet species distribution along the Elechi Creek similar to the study river was relatively higher (Ekweozor, 1989). There are nine water quality parameters which could also be used to determine Water Quality Index of a water body (Iyama and Edori, 2014).