Abstract:

Kalaigidama and Basambio creeks are estuarine creeks along the sombrero river in Ke Degema Local Government, Rivers State, Nigeria. This study was aimed at assessing the physico-chemical parameters of the creek considering the activities going on there. Four stations were selected along the creek equidistant from each other and sampled for 5 months from May to September. Surface water samples were collected for testing Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Nitrate, Phosphate and Sulphate in the laboratory following standard method while Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Temperature, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Conductivity, pH, Salinity and Transparency were determined in-situ. The mean and range of parameters were determined using appropriate statistics and values compared with DPR, FEPA and WHO standards. ANOVA was used to test for variation along sampling months and stations. The mean values of physiochemical parameter are temperature (26.86+ 0.17oC – 28.84 + 0.46oC), pH (6.97 + 1.3 – 7.41 + 0.09), DO (2.84 + 1.01 mg/l – 4.5 + 0.18mgl), Salinity (10.89 + 2.4ppt – 20.7+ 0.35ppt] conductivity [19.03+ 6.13ms - 36.2 + 0.83ms), TDS (16.11 + 1.45ppt – 36.58 + 1.22ppt), COD (16.6 + 2.73mg/l – 50 + 5.18mg/l), BOD (1.34 + 0.82 mg/l – 3.96 + 0. 02 mg/l), Transparency (6.2 + 1.11cm – 10.06 + 1.72cm), TSS (5.94 + 1.02mg/l – 10.82 + 1.61mg/l), Sulphate (164.86 + 28.08mg/l – 402.47 + 11.36mg/l) and nitrate (1.85 + 0.46mg/l – 5.39 + 1.86mg/l). The means of all parameters were significantly different at (P< 0.0001) exception of pH along the sampling months. The study revealed that the physico-chemical parameters of the water samples from all the stations except Sulphate and Dissolved Oxygen were within the permissible limits of DPR, FEPA and WHO. Which indicates that the creeks are under stress and cannot support aquatic life.