Assessment of Seasonal Variations of Some Heavy Metals between Water and Sediment in Qua Iboe River, Oruk Anam, Nigeria

Abstract

Environment which man lives requires sustainability for life continuity. This is because human activities release enormous amounts of diverse contaminants into aquatic ecosystem are continually increasing. It is worthy of note of some relationship between concentrations of contaminants in water bodies and sediment lying beneath through desorption of some contaminants from the water. In this study, heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Ni, Cu, V, Pb and Sn) in water and sediment were determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The results were subjected to statistical analysis using statistical package for social sciences. A significant positive relationship was established between the heavy metals in water and sediment in the studied river. A significant positive relationship between Cd in water and that in sediment was established at (r = .973, p <0.01), between Cu in water and that in sediment (r = .844, p<0.01) in dry season. In wet season, results revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between Cd in water and that in sediment (r = .925, p<0.01), Cr in water and sediment (r = .991, p<0.01), Cu in water and sediment (r = .937, p<0.01). The results also revealed that the levels of the metals in both water and sediment were higher in dry season than wet season due to concentration and dilution effects respectively. The distribution revealed that as the concentration of the metals in water increased, there was a corresponding increase in concentration of the metals in sediment. This condition is capable of causing bioaccumulation of the metals in commercial fish especially bottom feeders with potential consequences on man through food chain.