Ecological and human health risk assessment of total petroleum hydrocarbons in surface water and sediment from Woji Creek in the Niger Delta Estuary of Rivers State, Nigeria

Owhonda Chikeru Ihunwo; Mark Obinna Onyema; Vremudia Onyeajoma Wekpe; Christopher Okocha; Amir Reza Shahabinia; Lebechi Emmanuel; Vincent N Okwe; Chimdi B Lawson; Prince Chinedu Mmom; Amalo Ndu Dibofori-Orji; Estefanía Bonnail

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07689

Ecological and human health risk assessment of total petroleum hydrocarbons in surface water and sediment from Woji Creek in the Niger Delta Estuary of Rivers State, Nigeria

Heliyon. 2021 Jul 30;7(8):e07689. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07689. eCollection 2021 Aug.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Niger Delta Aqua Research Group, Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry Technology, School of Science Laboratory Technology, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, P. M. B. 5323, Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria.
² Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry, University of Port Harcourt, P. M. B. 5323, Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria.
³ Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, P. M. B. 5323, Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria.
⁴ Groupe de Recherche Interuniversitaire en Limnologie (GRIL), Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québecà Montréal (UQAM), Succ. Centre-Ville, Case postale 8888 Montréal, Québec H3C3P8, Canada.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences. Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
⁶ Centro de Investigaciones Costeras, Universidad de Atacama (CIC-UDA), Avenida Copayapu 485, Copiapó, Atacama, Chile.

Abstract

This study was designed to assess total petroleum hydrocarbon (THP) concentrations in the surface water and sediment sampled from Woji Creek and to assess potential ecological and human health risk due to petroleum hydrocarbons along the creek. Physicochemical parameters [pH, temperature (T), electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO), total dissolved solids (TDS)] were in-situ measured from sediment and surface water; hydrological parameters (width, depth and volume) were used to calculate the flow rate (discharge) at different stations of the creek. Trend of TPH in the surface water samples along the creek were as follows: St4 (3.639 ± 1.121 mg/L) > St3 (2.449 ± 0.623 mg/L) > St1 (1.457 ± 0.244 mg/L) > St2 (1.069 ± 0.228 mg/L) > St5 (1.010 ± 0.120 mg/L) Trend of TPH concentration across the creek was as follows: St1 - 8.758 ± 0.697 mg/kg > St3 - 7.675 ± 0.541 mg/kg > St5 - 5.515 ± 0.401 mg/kg > St4 - 5.075 ± 0.363 mg/kg > St2 - 3.162 ± 0.307 mg/kg. Diagnostic indices indicate that the hydrocarbon in the creek was from petrogenic source. Estimation of ecological risk indicated risk in the surface water but not in the sediment. However, human health risk assessment indicated no risk due to human ingestion of the sediment or surface water.

Keywords: Ecology risk; Estuary; Human health risk; Niger Delta; Petroleum hydrocarbons.