PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of rapid population growth due to uncontrolled and unplanned urbanization as it affects environmental degradation through solid waste generation in Port Harcourt Metropolis, which has brought about the problem of solid waste management to city authorities and state governmentDesign/methodology/approachThe study involved the administration of questionnaires to 76 different households with a total population of 393 persons giving an average size of 7 persons per household. Also, formal interviews with officials of relevant government departments as wells as private stakeholders in urban solid waste management were conducted. The questionnaires were designed to elicit information on the characteristics of the respondents and waste generation capacity as well as disposal methods. The data abstracted from the questionnaires were analysed using the multiple linear regression to test for the significant differences. The study period was between January 1999 to December 1999FindingsA total of 207.3 tonnes of solid waste was generated giving per capita annual waste generation rate of 0.53 tonnes equivalent to a waste generator rate of 1.45 kg of waste per capita daily. Analysis of solid waste composition was by land use types. The study showed that cartoons accounted for 16.1 percent, while papers and food remnants had 14.4 percent and 26.6 percent of total waste generated respectively.Practical implicationsAssist city dwellers tackle the problem posed by urban waste through provision of adequate infrastructure and social services.Originality/valueThe paper suggests continuous enlightenment programmes as well as employment of good technical services in the management of solid waste rather than the use of political will to tackle the problems. This work is original, as no such analysis has been carried out in Port Harcourt metropolis. The paper has provided data and knowledge upon which further research can be carried out.

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ABSTRACT:Various physico-chemical techniques were used to investigate the characteristics and heavy metal concentration of soils in some selected waste dumpsites in Port Harcourt. This is because the soils act as vehicles for the permeability of leachates into various levels of aquifers in the environment. The results show that the soils are moderately acidic with a mean pH value of 5.5 for the 1m subsoil and 5.8 for 30cm soil depth in the various dumpsites, while the total organic carbon (TOC) levels show that it was low with 3.41% and 2.90% for depths 30cm and 1m respectively. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the soils showed a range of 21.36 -28.79 meq/100g for a depth of 30cm and 20.94 -26.44meq/100g for a depth of 1m soil level across the waste dumpsites. The textural class of the soils was observed to be a mixture of sand, clay and loam in all the sites. Low sand fractions (>40%) was observed for almost all sites except for Elekahia and Eleme roads that had 64.7% and 56.4% respectively. The results of the heavy metal concentration in all the locations of the waste dumpsites were above permissible limits. In this study, the soil did not meet up the moisture requirement for a waste land filling and could therefore be prone to porosity, surface flooding and underground water pollution.

Several activities occur in abattoirs including receiving, slaughtering and sale of cattle for meat protein. In rearing of these animals, antibiotics and vaccines are incorporated as part of their meals as well as in the treatment of their infections. The regular use of antibiotics leading to the increased occurrence of antibiotic resistant organisms worldwide and also from abattoir samples, has prompted the determination of plasmid profile in these microorganisms as the plasmids act as a faster means of transmission of resistance genes. This study was thus aimed at determining the plasmid profile of multi-resistant microorganisms isolated from abattoirs. Several samples including swabs from the tables, cow blood, faecal matter and service water were collected from the Iwofe, Rumuodumaya and Trans-Amadi abattoirs located within Port Harcourt City. Antibiotics including Gentamicin (10 µg), Ofloxacin (5 µg), Augmentin (30 µg), Ceftazidime (30 µg), Cefuroxime (30 µg), Nitrofurantoin (300 µg), Cefixime (5 µg) and Ciprofloxacin (5 µg) were used to determine the sensitivity pattern of the isolated microorganims.The plasmid profile of the multiple antibiotic resistant microorganisms was determined using standard microbiological procedures. From the results, gram-positive isolates of the genera Bacillus and Staphylococcus exhibited 100% resistance to Cefuroxime, Ceftazidime and Augmentin while they exhibited 100% susceptibility to Ofloxacin. The gram negative isolates including those of the genus Escherichia, Pseudomonas and Proteus exhibited 100% resistance to Cefuroxime as well as 100% susceptibility to Ofloxacin. Strains of Escherichia coli, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus flexus and Klebsiella pneumoniae lacked plasmids while strains of Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Escherichia, Staphylococcus aureus and Proteus mirabilis had at least one plasmid each. The absence of plasmids in some of these isolates, indicate that their resistance may be chromosome-mediated and not plasmid-mediated. The occurrence of plasmids in multi-resistant microorganisms, poses a serious public health threat as other susceptible organisms may become resistant to the regularly used antibiotics over time.

This paper communicates the effect of bioremediation on the performance of Okro plant (Abelmoshus esculentus) in a typical Niger Delta soil that has received 5% crude oil pollution level. Biodegrading bacteria such as Pseudomonas fluorescen, Acinetobacteria iwofii, Bacillus subtilus, Arthrobacter globiformis that was isolated from previously polluted soils was introduced into the samples. The treatment combinations are as follows (A) = control without crude oil; B = soil + crude oil, (C) = soil + crude oil + microbes, (D) = soil + crude oil + microbes, (E) = soil + crude oil + microbes + fertilizer (F) soil + microbes and (G) = soil + fertilizer. The treatment (E) gave the highest number of leaves, % crop emergence, plant biomass, microbial population and degradation of petroleum hydrocarbon compared to any of the treatments that had received crude oil. This suggested that fertilizer application does not only stimulate microbial growth but it provides the plant with more available nutrients required for plant growth.

The transfer of resistant organisms through consumption of contaminated fish and shell fish poses a substantial risk of environmental contamination because of the practice of using medicated feeds to treat pens or cages. However, antibiotics used for animals either for therapy or prophylaxis can result in transfer of resistant genes from animals to humans and thereby establishing a reservoir of resistant microbes. This study was aimed at identifying bacterial isolates associated with fish pond aquaculture and their multiple resistance pattern to antibiotics. Samples of infected catfishes were collected from a fish pond in Aluu, Rivers state. The fishes were characterized by skin lesions which indicate the infection. Sterile swabs were used to swab the lesions on the skins of the fishes. The antibiotic sensitivity of the isolates was determined using the disc diffusion method. Standardized inoculums of the overnight grown broth cultures were spread on Mueller-Hinton agar plates using