Biological Quality of Environmentally Impacted Sunken Well Water in the Niger Delta: A Case Study of 'Oguanja' Community, Sapele, Delta State, Nigeria

OLOGICAL QUALITY OF ENVIRONMENTALLY IMPACTED SUNKEN WELL WATER IN THE NIGER DELTA – A CASE STUDY OF “OGUANJA” COMMUNITY, SAPELE, DELTA STATE, NIGERIA

                                                               BY

                                                MOSES O. OMAYULI, M.Sc.

                                                DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

                                                DELTA STATE COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION

                                                MOSOGAR, P M B 4088, SAPELE, NIGERIA.

 ABSTRACT

The Niger delta of Nigeria has been ecologically devastated due to oil mineral exploration and other industrial activities. Poor quality water, sanitation and widespread poverty are among the problems facing the inhabitants of this region. The chosen community of study, “Oguanja”, is an urban shanty settlement in Delta State of Nigeria.

In order to ascertain the degree of impact of environmental degradation on quality of water from sunken wells, four locations were selected for the study. Protected and unprotected water wells were sampled and the water subjected to laboratory tests. The tests covered microbial load/diversity, fungal load/diversity as well as human parasites. The study was carried out to cover 2 months of rainy and 4 months of dry seasons respectively.

Laboratory results show that biological contamination was highest during the rainy season. All three categories of indicator organisms earlier mentioned were encountered throughout the study save for a few instances. Microbial pathogens of enteric origin were encountered in all the water samples indicating poor sewage disposal and serious environmental problems.

The difference between the two alternating seasons is no longer easily discernable because of altered weather patterns.

Questionnaire analysis indicates that the inhabitants suffer from debilitating water related diseases. Access to medical treatment is poor and even at that is not affordable, so alternative medicine is thus the choice of treatment.