Determination of the Contamination of Groundwater Sources in Okrika Mainland with Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)

In this study, we examined the presence and concentrations of six polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in groundwater sources of Okrika mainland impacted by effluent discharges from a petroleum refinery into her surrounding Creeks. Sterile amber coloured bottles were used to collect 10 replicate borehole water samples from the mainland and fixed with concentrated H2SO4. Samples were transferred to the laboratory in iced coolers and analyzed using Gas chromatography coupled with Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID). The interactions of the PAH components detected was determined using the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r) while spatial variance equality in means of concentrations was explored with the One-way ANOVA. Structure detection of observed inequalities was made with means plots. Concentrations of the PAHs were high and exceeded the WHO maximum permissible limit of 0.002mg/l in drinking water. Benzo(b)fluoranthene, with the highest mean concentration varied between 0.000370.51266 (0.08117±0.03330159)mg/l, fluoranthene varied between 0.00060-0.32890 (0.0473946±0.01769877)mg/l, while benzo(k)fluoranthene with the least mean concentration varied between 0.00017-0.08478 (0.0237385±0.00610045)mg/l. However, pyrene concentration ranged between 0.00015 and 0.24757 (0.0508440±0.01859716)mg/l, benzo(a)anthracene between 0.00020-0.21972 (0.0512660±0.01688275)mg/l, and chrysene between 0.00013 and 0.16571 (0.0488975±0.01090264)mg/l. Strong associations were observed between all the PAH components measured at P Fcrit(3.921478)] was recorded across the sampling locations at P<0.05. Structure detection of mean difference revealed that the inequalities were most contributed in BH1, BH 2, BH 5 and BH 10, while Research Article