Rain Water Quality Evaluation in a Typical Gas Flaring Environment in the Niger Delta

Abstract

Environmental pollution is one of the major consequences of gas flaring. In the rural oil producing communities of the Niger Delta where this age long practice is common and a large portion of the population use rain water for domestic activities, it is imperative to evaluate the rain water quality in these environments. In this work, a hundred samples of rain water were collected within a period of two years from a typical community where gas flaring has been dominant for several decades. The samples were analyzed in the laboratory for pH value, turbidity and nitrite content, and the results were compared against the World Health Organization (WHO) standard for water quality. The study shows that the rainwater samples collected from the gas flaring zone had an average turbidity value of 22.58NTU, an average pH value of 6.75 and contained an average of 2.6mg/l of nitrite. However, when considered separately, some rain water samples met the WHO standard while others did not. It was observed that about 61% of the samples considered met the WHO standard on turbidity of 15NTU for rain water and 17% of the samples met the standard for drinking water which is 5NTU. 26% met the lower pH standard of 7.0 for drinking water while 64% met the pH standard of 6.5 for rain water. 60% met the WHO requirement for nitrite content of 3mg/l but generally, about 39% of the samples did not meet the WHO standard for rain water quality. These test parameters indicate that the level of rain water pollution in this gas flaring environment is high and unhealthy especially for the ecosystem system. Thus, drastic measures need to be taken to stall gas flaring in the Niger Delta.

Recent Advances in Environmental Protection of Oil Polluted Surface and Groundwater in the Nigerian Context

“…Though the plant has been effectively used for phytoremediation over the years, it was opined that investigations have not been carried out to elucidate the effectiveness of the species in this regard. Ogolo et al (2018) evaluated the effect of gas flaring on the quality of rainwater in rural communities for that have oil wells located in them in the niger delta region of Nigeria. About 38% of the collected rainwater sample were below WHO standards for rainwater quality in terms of pH, turbidity and nitrite content.…”

“…Problem evaluation was undertaken by Akporido (2018), Amala (2018), Inyang et al (2018), Ogolo et al (2018), Happy (2018) and Okoh et al (2019). However, some researchers have delved into means of finding actual solutions.…”