GIS BASED ASSESSMENT OF SURFACE WATER POLLUTION IN THE QUA IBOE RIVER BASIN, SOUTH EASTERN NIGERIA

This research was aimed at using Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques to assess the level of surface water pollution within the Qua Iboe River Basin. The table of random numbers was used to select five sampling points from each of the three zones of the basin. Three pollution parameters made up of nutrients, metals and physio – chemical properties were analyzed. Multi-criteria methods were used along with the interpolation function of spatial analyst extension in ArcMap software to produce layers for each pollution indicator, A final pollution map was generated by combining the three resultant layers of nutrients, heavy metals and physico-chemical properties using the single output map algebra of the spatial analyst extension in ArcMap. The pollution surface generated showed that the lower parts of the basin were highly polluted with areas around Esit Eket, Ibeno and Eket having the highest incidence. Conversely, most areas in the middle and upper parts of the basin were found to be either marginally polluted or not polluted at all. However, the one-way ANOVA test conducted for the 3 zones indicates that the variation of the pollutants was not significant at 0.05 level of significance the high incident of pollution noticed in Ibeno means that there is need for enforcement of strict policies here. Increased general awareness on the effects of human activities on water bodies should also be encouraged. Comprehensive and regular studies of the health of water basins should be encouraged not only by the government environmental agencies, but also by corporate organizations.