Assessment of Air Quality Parameters in Selected Road Intersections in Port Harcourt, Nigeria: A Case Study of their Potential Impacts on Terrestrial and Aquatic Environment (Published)
Selected air quality parameters (SO2, NO2, CO, PM2.5 and PM10) concentrations were measured at selected road intersections within the study area. SO2, NO2, CO, PM2.5 and PM10 were found to be above permissible limits of Federal Ministry of Environment (FME) and WHO, while CO was within the limit at all sampling stations. The result of the statistical analysis showed that the P-value was less than 0.05 (level of significance) in PM2.5 and PM10 parameters, which imply that these air quality parameters were significantly different from the FME limits. Similarly, NO2 and SO2 results showed significant differences when compared with FME standards. Generally, the results showed that the concentration the assessed pollutants were significantly higher than the recommended Nigeria FME limits. Thus, they constitute potential sources of health hazards to humans and aquatic flora and fauna within the water bodies in the study area. Routine monitoring of these air quality parameters and advocacy on their impacts on terrestrial and aquatic environment cum organisms amongst others, were recommended as a way of reducing air pollution within the study area.
Citation: Akankali J. A., Chukwuma B., Ambrose I. S., Unyime U. S. (2023) Assessment of Air Quality Parameters in Selected Road Intersections in Port Harcourt, Nigeria: A Case Study of their Potential Impacts on Terrestrial and Aquatic Environment, International Journal of Environment and Pollution Research, Vol.11, No.1 pp.24-42
Keywords: Air, Environment, Impacts, Quality, aquatic, terrestrial
Air Quality Index Assessment in Some Parts of Porthacourt Metropolis, Nigeria (Published)
The assessment determines the air quality status in some parts of Port Harcourt city and environs. The amount of air pollutants emitted into the environment are measured and described in relation to seasonal variations in the concentration levels of gases in the air sample with a view to assess the air quality status in Port Harcourt. Some industries within the study area include Pabod Breweries, plastcom in Transamadi axis, Fibow, dulfil in Choba axis, eleme Petrochemical in the oilmil/eliozu axis just mention but a few. Pollutants such as TSPM, SOx, CO and Pb in wet and dry seasons were measured in association with meteorological parameters. Air monitoring gadgets such as Kestrel 4500 Compound weather Tracker (for measurement of metrological parameters and Digit 970 hand- held gas analyser for measuring the gasses) were employed in the monitoring. The average wind speed within the dry season was 0.78m/s, while the average wind speed at wet season is 1.53m/s. Average temperature observed within the study area is 26.350C in wet season and 33.20C in dry season. From the analysis of the result gotten from data collation in this work, the measured concentration of TSPM was high at 95.83ug/m3 in the wet season while it1661 ug/m3 was in the dry season. For CO, Rumuomasi was the location with a high value of 4.57 ppm in the wet season while Oil mill with a value of 32.37 ppm was highest in dry season. Similarly, SO2 had a high value of 0.74 ppm in the wet season and 1.26 ppm in the dry season. Finally, Lead (Pb), had Oil mill as its hotspot with a value of 0.77 ppm in wet season and high around Trans Amadi area with a value of 0.91 ppm in the dry season. A detailed analysis of the result observed that a mean concentration of the gaseous pollutants was higher in the dry season than the wet season. They were found to have exceeded the permissible limits as given by the FMEnv, NAAQS and FEPA with dominant pollutants like Pb, and CO having hotspots in Trans-Amadi, Choba and Oil mil areas. The only area that had limited air pollutant exposures was at Air Port Juction, OMAGWA mapped as a control area for this assessment
Keywords: Air, Assessment, Meteorological, Season