GWENDOLINE I. ASUQUO, ALICE O. EKWU AND IDOPISE ABASI E. ASUQUO
Abstract
The investigation into the Physico-Chemical characteristics of Mbiakong River in South East Nigeria spanned from March 2021 to February 2022. The study employed standard analytical methods to assess selected water quality parameters, and the resulting data underwent various statistical analyses. Microsoft Excel was utilized for graphical representations, while SPSS facilitated descriptive statistics. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to determine spatial and seasonal variations in physico-chemical parameters. The mean values for key parameters were as follow: Air Temperature (30.93 ñ 0.72 ðC), Water Temperature (25.29 ðC ñ 1.12 ðC), pH (6.45 ñ 0.17), Electrical Conductivity (EC) (361.78 ñ 19.02 üS/cm), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) (192.22ñ13.24 mg/l), Dissolved Oxygen (DO) (7.31ñ0.98 mg/l), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) (3.42 ñ 0.37 mg/l), Hardness (35.93ñ1.02 mg/l), Alkalinity (39.64 ñ 01.63 mg/l CaCO3), Chloride (24.82 ñ 0.72 mg/l), Phosphate (27.28 ñ 4.11 mg/l), Turbidity (18.64 ñ 1.04 NTU), Transparency (34.67 ñ 4.64 cm), Sulphate (4.51 ñ 0.51 mg/l), and Nitrate (138.10 ñ 10.19 mg/l). Significance was observed in all measured Physico-Chemical parameters except for Turbidity, Chloride, and Phosphate. The elevated nutrient levels identified in the study indicate a rich aquatic environment that greatly supports primary and secondary productivity.