Environmental effect of oil spillage in Bomu Community, Rivers State, Nigeria.

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the Environmental effects of oil spillage on Bomu community of Rivers State, Nigeria. In other to achieve this, the following methods were adopted: oral interview, physical observation and field sampling of soil and water. Heavy metals in the soil and water samples were determined using Atomic Adsorption Spectrometer (AAS). The findings showed that environmental characteristic (social distortion, soil and water) has significant effect on the inhabitant of Bomu community and that has been severely distorted, the chemical analysis result of soil and water samples shows that they contained high level of heavy metals when compared with Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO). The soil sample showed high level depletion of vital nutrients that are necessary for plant growth, for instance, Iron content is 4.68mg/kg and Phosphorus 4.48mg/kg. These values are below the FAO standard also water quality parameter such as pH is 5.1 and copper 0.3mg/l do not conform to WHO standards. The concentration of lead in water samples A, B, C, D and E are 0.17, 0.15, 0.24, 0.16 and 0.21 respectively. These concentrations are above the WHO standard of 0.10mg/l most especially in A and E were the impact of oil spillage is frequent, this might be responsible for the recurrent report of toxic biochemical effect in the water of the study area. It is recommended that best practices are adhered to in oil exploration, transportation and storage as this would minimise the occurrence of oil spillage in future. Meanwhile, the cleaning up of the area should be carried out as soon as possible and some compensation should be paid to the people who have suffered for a long time from the damaging spill. Since Ghana is planning to commence Oil exploitation, Ghanaian Government should borrow a leaf from the Nigerian experience.