THE PHYSICO-CHEMISTRY AND NUTRIENT DYNAMICS OF IMO RIVER (OBOWO CATCHMENT AREA) IMO STATE, NIGERIA.

The anthropogenic and recreational activities such as Laundry, bathing, swimming, boating, sand mining, cow skin processing,  etc , have been implicated  as the  major contributors  to the overall pollution status and biogenic salts fluctuations of the water body,as well as the driving machine  of allochtonous inputs to the fragile aquatic ecosystem. The aim of this study is to x-ray the physical and chemical characteristics, together with nutrient dynamics of the Imo River. Water samples were collected from six ecologically distinct stations over a 12 months period. The samples were analyzed using standard laboratory methods as described by Wetzel and Likens.The results obtained were subjected to Two-way ANOVA.Most of the results  fall within W.H.O permissible  Standards, except  for dissolved oxygen and total phosphorus that slightly deviated. The cationic order was:  Na>k>Ca>Mg, with PEARSALL 's index of 6.96mg/L.The Water Quality index recorded ranged from 68.5 to 96.3 which ranked the water body at grades C and D in the Water Quality Rating Scale, an indication of a very poor quality status. However, it can serve for other purposes like washing, irrigation and other culinary purposes,but not fit for human consumption  Nevertheless,  basic treatment like boiling and filtering, chlorination and treatment with  alum could be applied to enhance its portability. 

Primary Presenter: Venatius Chiamaka Steve Ubah, Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria (ubah.venatius@gmail.com)

Authors:

PRISCILIA ABARA, FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY OWERRI IMO STATE  (priscilia.abara@futo.edu.ng)