Physicochemical Quality Assessment of River Orashi in Eastern Niger Delta of Nigeria

River Orashi is one of the major river in the Niger Delta, being a sister tributary that formed the triangular Delta with RiversNun and Focardos. The bioavalabiliy and water quality of any river is reflection some vital water quality parameters. In this study,river water samples were randomly collected from several stations of the river in both dry and wet seasons, and analyzed forphysicochemical and other elemental parameters. Result were reported as; temperature (26.37 - 26.77 oC), pH (6.52 - 7.06),turbidity (22.17 - 31.23 NTU), conductivity (25.07 – 82.33 μS/cm), dissolved oxygen (5.80 - 15.73 mg/l), Biological oxygendemand (4.00 – 6.97 mg/l), total dissolved solid (6.77 - 12.58 mg/l), total alkalinity (1.53 – 2.20 mg/l), hardness (1.70 – 4.17 mg/l),nitrite (0.01 - 0.45 mg/l), nitrate (0.03 - 0.38 mg/l), sulphate (2.10 – 4.53 mg/l), chloride (0.03 - 0.38 mg/l), sodium(1.55 – 3.27mg/l), potassium (1.08 – 8.35 mg/l), calcium (1.32 -14.54mg/l), Magnesium (0.38 - 8.41mg/l), manganese (0.003 – 0.01 mg/l), andtotal iron ranged from 0.01mg/g to 0.20 mg/l. Our findings indicate mild anthropogenic activities around the Orashi river. Wetherefore urge government and community leaders to intervene and educate inhabitants around the river on the danger posed byanthropogenic activities.

کلیدواژه ها:

Orashi River ، Anthropogenic activity ، Physicochemical parameters ، Niger Delta