Groundwater Quality of Bogoberi in Calabar Municipality in Cross River State, Southeastern Nigeria.

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-5263189/v1

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Groundwater Quality of Bogoberi in Calabar Municipality in Cross River State, Southeastern Nigeria.

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5263189/v1

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Groundwater quality investigation was carried out in Bogoberi community in Calabar Municipality Local Government Area in Cross River State, Nigeria. The study was conducted to determine the quality of groundwater for drinking and other domestic purposes. Borehole water samples were collected and subjected to standard field and laboratory techniques, and analyzed for the physicochemical parameters. The groundwater samples were slightly acidic and soft when compared with the WHO standards and Nigerian Standards for Drinking water Quality. The electrical conductivity ranged from 97.2 to 254 µS/cm. The alkalinity ranged from 15 to 25 mg/L. The dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen demand ranged from 2.5 to 5.2 and 0 to 0.06 mg/L, respectively. The total dissolved solids ranged from 65.12 to 170.18 mg/L. The nitrate and sulphate ranged from 0.15 to 0.48 and 0 to 10.03 mg/L, respectively. The study area is dominated by the Calabar Flank unit. It is underlained by Teritary and Quarternary to Recent sediments known as the Benin Formation (Coastal Plain sands). The Benin Formation consists of alternating sequences of gravel and sand of various grain size, silt, clay and alluvium. In the area, the alternating sediments built up a multi-aquifer system. The Cretaceous sediments include mostly conglomerate, limestone, sandstone, mudstone, shale and marl of Calabar Flank. Statistical analysis gave significant correlation (at 0.05) between electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, total hardness, alkalinity, and many other elements. The study aids in the understanding of chemistry of groundwater and setting background for related detailed study for long-term monitoring and management.

Pollution

chemistry

groundwater

Calabar

Nigeria

Natural resource, water is essential for the existence of life. There is global awareness for importance of groundwater for domestic use; however, this is due to the quality being commonly better than surface water which is vulnerable to direct contamination (Chukwura et al., 2015, Igonor et al., 2013, Omole 2013). Anthropogenic activities involving industrial works such as mining and disposal of solid waste from chemical industries contribute to the contamination of water sources in several regions globally (Chukwura and Igwe 2021, Chukwura and Hursthouse 2020, Igwe and Chukwura 2018, Chukwura et al., 2015, Omole 2013, Igonor et al., 2013, Ohlander 2012, Nordstrom 2011, Younger and Wolkersdorfer 2004, Vitousek et al., 1997).

Some of the rural parts of the study area Bogoberi in Calabar Municipality, Calabar, Cross River State in South-eastern Nigeria source water from boreholes (and previously hand-dug wells) for household usage and other domestic purposes (Fig. 1). The residence occupying the study area are known to be internally displaced persons / people from their original residence due to insurgency and other related incidences (Olanrewaju et al., 2019). Other activities such as palm oil dealers and money exchanges are notably known to be conducted in the study area. All these and other related anthropogenic activities have contributed to the poor quality of the groundwater sources. Similarly, residence in the area could be drinking water that poses risk to human health. The aim of the study is to evaluate and determine the quality of the groundwater sources for drinking and other domestic purposes. Data generated from the study was used for the formulation of guidelines for the detailed study in the area.

2.1 Geology and Hydrogeology

Cross River State is situated at the boundary of Nigeria and Cameroon Republic, and lies closer to the Gabon – Congo carton than any other part of Nigeria.

Cross River State is subdivided into four (4) units, namely; (i) The Oban Massif, (ii) The Calabar Flank, (iii) The Mamfe Embayment, and (iv) The Obudu Plateau.

According to Ekwueme (2003), the mapping of the rocks of the Oban Massif revealed rocks that falls within the following groupings of the Nigerian Basement Complex including; (a) Schist belts, (b) the Magmatite – gneiss complex, (c) Charnockitic rocks, (d) Gabbro and doleritic rocks, (e) Older granities with Amphiboles, (f) Syenites, basic and acidic intrusive rocks like granodiorities, pegmatites and quartz veins.

The Calabar Flank represents the part of the southern Nigeria Continental Margin bounded by Oban Massif towards the North and by the Calabar Hinge line delineating the Niger Delta Basin to the west. The Calabar Flank has early Cretaceous deposits followed by the first marine incursion which resulted in the deposition of the platform, the Mfamosing Limestone during the middle Albian (Petters, 1982). In the Cenomanian and Turonian, Subsidence of faulted blocks resulted in widespread deposition of shale with minor calcareous intercalations. The sediments are uncomformably overlain by a dominantly shale lithology with occasional mudstone and thin gypsum beds during the Campanian to Mastrichtian (Nyong and Ramanthan, 1985).

The study area is underlain by Teritary and Quarternary to Recent sediments known as the Benin Formation (Coastal Plain sands) (Amah et al., 2008). The Benin Formation consists of alternating sequences of gravel and sand of various grain size, silt, clay and alluvium (Amah et al., 2008, Ekwueme et al., 1995).

The alternating sediments built up a multi-aquifer system in the area. The Cretaceous sediments include mostly conglomerate, sandstone, limestone, mudstone, shale and marl of Calabar Flank (Ekwueme et al., 1995). The Precambrian basement complex rocks are migmatite, gneisses, schists, phyllite, granodiorite, pegmatite, granite, tonalite, charnokite and many more (Rahman et al., 1981, Ekwueme et al., 1995).

The geology of Cross River is primarily dominated by the basement complex of the Oban Massif. The Oban Massif extends from the Central Region to the Southeastern part and the Obudu Plateau of the Northeast (Akpeke, 2006). The sedimentary terrain in Cross River State consists of rocks of the Lower Benue Trough and Calabar Flank. Cross River State (CRS) has a history of regional metamorphism, tectonism, magmatism that leads to the development of fault, fold and fractures that creates sites for mineralization. CRS is known to have great potentials for economic mineral deposits such as Gold, Manganese, Rutite, Mica, Barite (Akpeke 2006, Adamu et al., 2015). CRS is noted for the occurrence of countless aporadic clusters of dimension stones and pegmatite veins. In addition, Cross River State occupies the southern fringes of Nigeria. The State has an area of approximately 23, 000 Km² and extends from the Atlantic Ocean (in the southern part).

The basement of southeastern Nigeria is made up of the Oban Hills and Obudu Plateau in Cross River State (Akpeke, 2006). All in the Precambrian basement outcrops in southeastern Nigeria. The Oban hills and Obudu Plateau constitutes the western prolongation of Cameroon Mountains into the Cross River plains (southeastern Nigeria). The Oban – Obudu Massif is flanked on the south by the Cameroon volcanic line and on the Northwest by the Benue Trough which is believed to be complementary structural features (rift. Cretaceous to Tertiary to Sedimentary rocks (Fitton 1987).

There are two (2) main rivers in the Calabar area, namely; (i) the Calabar River in the west, and (ii) the great Kwa River in the east.

The main River runs almost the entire length of the Cross River State is the Calabar River which takes its rise from the Cameroon Mountains to the east (Akpeke 2008). Several and distributaries flow southwards and westwards to the main River.

2.2 Climate and Relief

In the study area, the mean monthly temperature varies between 23.7⁰C and 28.7⁰C for the wet and dry seasons respectively (Amah et al., 2008). The area lies in a humid tropical climate with frequent alternation of wet and dry seasons. The vegetation is typically of Equatorial Rain Forest towards the south and slightly Savannah up north.

3.1 Sample collection

A reconnaissance survey of Bogoberi was conducted in the dry season (April 2024) to set up for the planned detailed study (Fig. 1). Groundwater samples were collected and the coordinates were taken with GARMIN GPSMAP 78S series handheld GPS (Table 1). Precautions were taken to ensure the water to be sampled was used to rinse the sample bottles. The water samples were collected in properly washed and sterilized 1 – litre crew-capped High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) bottles and transported in ice coolers at 4^oC, and was immediately analyzed on getting to the laboratory (Oceanography Department at the University of Calabar, Calabar in Cross River State, Nigeria). Control sites and samples were collected more than 100m away from the study area. The samples were analysed using standardized laboratory methods on American Public Health Association (APHA), and according to De (2010) titration and colorimetric analysis.

Table 1

Coordinates of Actual Sampling points (Bogoberi)
Sample	Description	Eastings (X)	Northings (Y)
BOREHOLE
BH1	BOREHOLE	0081944.4	045734.0
BH2	BOREHOLE	0081940.7	045740.4
BH3 CONTROL	BOREHOLE	0081932.6	045743.2
BH4	BOREHOLE	0081928.1	045726.6
BH5	BOREHOLE	0081936.1	045725.9

3.1 Physicochemical Analysis

The results show that the groundwater samples were slightly acidic and soft when compared with the WHO standards and Nigerian Standards for Drinking water Quality (Table 2). The pH range from 3.79 to 4.90 and recorded below the maximum allowable limit when compared with the WHO and Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality (Fig. 2). The pH range of 6.5 to 8.5 is stipulated as the allowable values on the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2009) and Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ, 2007) (Table 3). The electrical conductivity ranged from 97.2 to 254 µS/cm. The total dissolved solids (TDS) ranged from 65.12 to 170.18 mg/L. The alkalinity ranged from 15 to 20 mg/L (Fig. 3). The dissolved solids (DO) ranged from 2.5 to 5.2 mg/L. The recorded biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅) ranged from 0 to 0.60 mg/L. Total hardness (TH) ranged from 32 to 80 mg/L (Table 4) (Fig. 4). The nitrate concentration ranged from 0.15 to 0.48 ppm (Fig. 5). The recorded nitrate values was below the maximum allowable limit on the WHO and NSDWQ guidelines. Chloride (CL) concentration ranged from 0.03 to 0.09 ppm (Fig. 6). Higher values of chloride is usually attributed to saltwater contamination, and not recommended for irrigation or drinking, however, this was not recorded at the study area. The iron (Fe) concentration ranged from 0 to 0.01 ppm (Fig. 7). The recorded values for Fe were lower on the permissible limit on WHO and NSDWQ.

Table 2

Physciochemical Results for Groundwater At The Study Area Bogoberi In The Dry Season
Sample ID	pH	Temp	EC (us/cm)	TDS (mg/L)	Alkalinity (mg/L)	DO (mg/L)	BOD₅ (mg/L)	Total Hardness (mg/L)	Ca (mg/L)	Nitrate (mg/L)	Chloride (mg/L)	SO₄ (mg/L)	Phosphate (mg/L)	Iron (mg/L)
BH 01	4.75	28	97.2	65.12	20	4.2	0.00	56	19.30	0.45	0.03	10.03	0.07	0.01
BH 02	4.90	27	124.8	83.62	15	5.2	0.00	64	28.94	0.15	0.04	0.00	0.06	0.01
BH 03CTL	4.89	27	108.8	72.90	15	3.9	0.00	32	28.94	0.44	0.04	9.12	0.07	0.00
BH 04	3.79	28	254	170.18	20	2.5	0.30	56	38.59	0.16	0.09	8.95	0.05	0.01
BH 05	4.26	27	139.9	93.73	25	3.1	0.60	80	32.16	0.48	0.05	0.00	0.07	0.01

Table 3

A comparison of the chemical data of water samples collected at Bogoberi with the Nigerian Standards for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ) and the World Health Organization (WHO) maximum allowable concentration (MAC) values for drinking water.
Parameter measured	Min - Max	Mean	Std. deviation	NSDWQ (2007)	WHO (2009)
pH	3.79–4.90	4.518	0.4834	6.5–8.5	6.5–8.5
EC (µS/cm)	97.2 − 254	144.94	63.068	1000	-
DO (mg/L)	2.5–5.2	3.78	1.0378	-	-
TDS (mg/L)	65.12 – 170.18	97.11	42.256	500	< 1000
BOD₅ (mg/L)	0.00–0.60	0.18	0.2683	-	-
Total Hardness (mg/L)	32–80	57.6	17.344	-	-
Cl (mg/L)	0.03–0.09	0.05	0.0235	250	250
SO₄ (mg/L)	0.00–10.03	5.62	5.1467	100	-
NO₃ (mg/L)	0.15 – 0.48	0.336	0.1659	50	-
Fe (mg/L)	0.00–0.01	0.008	0.0045	0.3	-

Table 4

The Classification of Water Hardness
Hardness range, mg/L as CaCO₃	Description
0–60	Soft
61–120	Moderately Hard
121–180	Hard
More than 180	Very Hard
. World Health Organization (2011)

3.2 Statistical Analysis

The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used for multivariate statistical analysis to examine the correlation between the elements in the groundwater. The statistical results of the correlation analysis are shown in Table 5. Statistical significance of the differences within the parameters was accessed using the SPSS software (significantly correlation at 0.05). The electrical conductivity (EC) was significantly correlated with total dissolved solids (TDS) at 1.0, and total hardness (TH). The same was the case with electrical conductivity (EC) and chloride, nitrate (NO₃) and Iron (Fe). A higher value of EC was attributed to the presence of inorganic components and it reveals higher concentration of anions and cations. Total hardness was significantly correlated with alkalinity at 0.717, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅) at 0.696 and Iron (Fe). Lower concentration of BOD₅ levels shows the absence of organic matter in the water. Total dissolved solids (TDS) were significantly correlated with chloride (Cl). Higher values of TDS in the water are associated with objectionable odours, taste and colours. There was no clear or significant relationship between the pH and the BOD₅ and some other parameters (Table 5). This explains increase in electrical conductivity with increasing total dissolved solids and total hardness as they are strongly correlated amongst some other parameters.

Table 5

Statistical Representation of Pearson’s correlation analysis for the physicochemical parameters of groundwater on SPSS software
Correlations
		EC	TH	TDS	Alkalinity	DO	BOD	Chloride	Nitrate	SO4	Fe	pH
EC	Pearson Correlation	1
EC	Sig. (2-tailed)
TH	Pearson Correlation	.134	1
TH	Sig. (2-tailed)	.830
TDS	Pearson Correlation	1.000^**	.134	1
TDS	Sig. (2-tailed)	.000	.830
Alkalinity	Pearson Correlation	.243	.717	.243	1
Alkalinity	Sig. (2-tailed)	.694	.173	.694
DO	Pearson Correlation	− .723	− .109	− .722	− .639	1
DO	Sig. (2-tailed)	.168	.862	.168	.246
BOD	Pearson Correlation	.439	.696	.439	.869	− .711	1
BOD	Sig. (2-tailed)	.460	.192	.460	.056	.178
Chloride	Pearson Correlation	.994^**	.098	.994^**	.255	− .770	.477	1
Chloride	Sig. (2-tailed)	.001	.875	.001	.679	.127	.417
Nitrate	Pearson Correlation	− .606	− .046	− .606	.407	− .111	.189	− .546	1
Nitrate	Sig. (2-tailed)	.278	.942	.278	.496	.859	.761	.341
SO4	Pearson Correlation	.129	− .739	.129	− .203	− .288	− .430	.137	.151	1
SO4	Sig. (2-tailed)	.836	.154	.836	.743	.639	.470	.826	.808
Fe	Pearson Correlation	.320	.825	.320	.535	− .065	.375	.238	− .350	− .380	1
Fe	Sig. (2-tailed)	.599	.085	.599	.353	.918	.534	.699	.563	.528
pH	Pearson Correlation	− .905^*	− .360	− .905^*	− .626	.893^*	− .719	− .911^*	.265	− .080	− .430	1
pH	Sig. (2-tailed)	.035	.552	.035	.259	.041	.171	.032	.666	.898	.470
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

The physicochemical analysis conducted on the investigation of the groundwater quality in the region shows the chemistry of the groundwater are within the acceptable maximum allowable limit for the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ). The groundwater samples were slightly acidic and soft when compared with the WHO standards and Nigerian Standards for Drinking water Quality. The electrical conductivity ranged from 97.2 to 254 µS/cm. The alkalinity ranged from 15 to 25 mg/L. The dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen demand ranged from 2.5 to 5.2 and 0 to 0.06 mg/L, respectively. The total dissolved solids ranged from 65.12 to 170.18 mg/L. The nitrate and sulphate ranged from 0.15 to 0.48 and 0 to 10.03 mg/L, respectively. Statistical analysis gave significant correlation (at 0.05) between electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, total hardness, alkalinity, and many other elements. Lower concentration of BOD₅ levels shows the absence of organic matter in the water. Total dissolved solids (TDS) were significantly correlated with chloride (Cl). Higher values of TDS in the water are associated with objectionable odours, taste and colours. The increase in electrical conductivity explains the increasing total dissolved solids and total hardness as they are strongly correlated amongst some other parameters.

Conflict of Interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval:

Not applicable

Competing Interests:

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Funding:

The authors declare that no funds or support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

Author Contribution

All the authors contributed to the conceptualization of the study and data collection. Preparation of the manuscript was done by UO Chukwura-Osoagba. The data collections were performed by UO Chukwura-Osoagba, PCI, CCO, and ADA. The analysis was performed by a staff of the laboratories of the Oceanography Department at the University of Calabar, Calabar in Cross River State, Nigeria. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Acknowledgement

The field work of this study is part of honours’ degree project. The authors express their profound gratitude to the staff of the laboratories of the Oceanography Department at the University of Calabar, Calabar in Cross River State, Nigeria. The authors also express sincere gratitude to the editors and reviewers of this manuscript for their constructive comments to improve the quality of the paper.

Availability of data and materials:

The authors will make the data and materials available upon request.

Code availability

(software application or custom code): Not applicable.

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You are reading this latest preprint version

Groundwater Quality of Bogoberi in Calabar Municipality in Cross River State, Southeastern Nigeria.

Status:

Version 1

Abstract

Figures

1.0 Introduction

2.0 The study area

2.1 Geology and Hydrogeology

2.2 Climate and Relief

3.0 Materials and Methods

3.1 Sample collection

3.0 Results and discussion

3.1 Physicochemical Analysis

3.2 Statistical Analysis

4.0 Conclusions

Declarations

Conflict of Interest

Ethical approval:

Competing Interests:

Funding:

Author Contribution

Acknowledgement

Availability of data and materials:

Code availability

References

Additional Declarations

Status:

Version 1