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Effect of Commercial Sand Mining on Water Quality Parameters of Nworie River In Owerri, Nigeria.

Nworie River, in the Imo River basin of Nigeria, roughly bisects Owerri municipality which hosts the administrative capital of Imo State of Nigeria. As a result of this location the river is vulnerable to potentially polluting human activities. A study of the water quality parameters was done in 2008 as a baseline for monitoring future changes in the river. That study recommended professionally supervised dredging to remove surplus silt and organic debris in some sections of the river. What followed in the past few years has been an unsupervised free-for-all commercial sand mining that has conspicuously degraded the physical characteristics of the river. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of this sand mining on quality parameters of the river. A total of eleven(11) physico-chemical parameters were investigated. The study showed that major indicators of organic pollution like high ammonia-nitrogen, low dissolved oxygen and high carbon dioxide concentrations still persist and, in some cases, have become worse since the sand mining activities. The study recommends an immediate stop to the sand mining followed by a professionally supervised dredging to restore the physical and biological characteristics of the river.