Quality assessment of water receiving effluents from crude oil flow stations in Niger Delta, Nigeria

Waterbodies receiving effluent from six crude oil flow stations in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria were assessed. A total of six hundred and forty-five observations for 19 parameters were used to assess the quality of these waters using the Canadian water quality index. A high correlation was obtained between copper and ammonia (R=0.9996, P<0.01) on one hand, and dissolved oxygen and BOD (R=0.786, P<0.01) on the other. Of the six stations, only one can be classified to be in good conditon, two were in fair conditions, two were marginal, while one was of poor quality. The quality of waterbodies assessed depends more on the degree of violation of standards and the number of times standards were violated. Furthermore, the quality of these waterbodies are affected more by the hydroglogy and geology of the Niger Delta than any other factor.