AN ASSESSMENT OF THE ORGANIC POLLUTION INDICATOR LEVELS OF RIVER GONGOLA IN ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA.

O. N. Maitera¹ ;    V.O. Ogugbuaja² and S.T. Magili¹

¹Department of Chemistry; Adamawa State University, Mubi

²Department of Chemistry, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria.

E-mail: olivermaitera@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT                      

An assessment of organic pollution indicator levels of River Gongola in Adamawa State was carried out in ten sampling stations. The sampling was done in the months of February, March, April, 2007 representing dry season and in the months of August, September, and October 2007 representing wet season. The water samples collected were analysed using standard procedures as described in Radojevic and Bashkin (1999) and Ademoroti (1996).The organic pollution levels determined includes Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Organic Carbon (TOC). The results revealed the following concentrations of the parameters assessed.BOD ranges between 2.64±0.11 to 2.96±0.80 for dry season and 2.06±0.08 to 2.31±0.05 for wet season. These values are high during dry season as compared to wet season. Likewise the COD ranges between2.43±0.48 to 4.38±0.92 for dry season and 1.57±0.52 to 3.48±0.35 for wet season. The values were also high during dry season than wet season. The TOC values ranges between 1.39±0.68 to 1.86±0.30 for dry season and 0.33±0.15 to 1.20±0.26 for wet season. It is also high in dry season than in wet season. While the DO values ranges between 5.44±0.19 to 6.44±0.16 for dry season and 6.94±0.43 to 7.81±0.75 for wet season. These values are high during wet season than dry season, which is in contrast to those of BOD, COD, and TOC. The correlation between DO/BOD is negative with a coefficient of -0.809, while that of COD/BOD gives a positive correlation of 0.515 and that of COD/TOC is also positive with a value of 0.457. These relationships agree with Radojevic and Bashkin (1999), and Ademoroti (1996). The above values are within the allowable limits of the WHO/NAFDAC (2001).Key words:  Organic indicators, pollution, River Gongola, Parameters, Sediment