Assessment of the effects of oil spillage on groundwater in an inland basin of southeastern Nigeria

Abstract

The heavy presence of hydrocarbons, reduced dissolved oxygen and high conductivity values inform the contamination of a local groundwater resource by an oil pipeline spillage in Isukwuato Local Government Area of Abia State. Monitoring the impact on a spring water source 90m downstream of the spill point showed that the oil spill migrated advectively with the groundwater of a shallow unconfined aquifer below, and that the effects were heaviest within the first two months of the spill. The effects then began to diminish with time and became only traces in the nineteenth month of the spillage. This would mean a long uncomfortable period of water scarcity for a people with no alternative source of water supply.

International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences Vol. 2(1) 2006: 19-23