Heavy metals impact in water and sediment of a rural stream in Benin City, Nigeria: Implications to aquatic and human health

Abstract

Heavy metals are known to have a deleterious effect on organs and tissues of both aquatic and human lives. This study was to assess the impact of heavy metals in water and sediment of Obueniyomo river and its implications to aquatic and human health. Water and sediment samples were collected using a prewashed plastic container and Eckman Grab for analysis with an Atomic Spectrophotometer (AAS).The heavy metalsassessed included Cadmium, Cobalt, Copper, Iron, Lead, Manganese and Zinc respectively.The world health organization (WHO), United States environmental protection agency (USEPA) and Federal ministry of environment (FMEv) standards wereapplied to assess the pollution load of the surface water, while World Surface Rock Average (WSRA) and World Health Organization (WHO) standards were applied for Sediment. Data were analysed using SPSS version 23.0;Microsoft Excel (2016) and MATLAB (2015a). The results revealed varying heavy metal contamination in water and sediment with Manganese recording 18.25±88.13mg/L in the surface water of station 2 and Iron levels of 253.96±52.71, 289.63±126.65 and 242.20±57.66 in the sediment at the sampled stations. Iron,manganese and lead revealed high pollution with copper above WHO and USEPAstandards in water while Cadmium was above the set standard of WSRA(0.3) in sediment. Iron, manganese and lead impact the river greatly thereby increasing the pollution load of the water body,which could accumulate and destroy vital organs thereby affecting human and aquatic health.

Keywords: Anthropogenic Influence, Heavy metals, Obueniyomo River and Water Pollution.