Temporal (Monthly) Distribution and Variation of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons Content in the Water and Sediments from Orashi River, Engenni, Rivers State, Nigeria

The total petroleum hydrocarbons content of the surface water and the sediments from the Orashi River were investigated between December 2019 and June 2020 at two months intervals to find out the level of contamination of the river. The total petroleum hydrocarbons were determined by GC-FID using Agilent 5890N, after following due laboratory procedures of sample pretreatment and clean-up. The results recorded from the surface water were December, 5.844±1.231 mg/L; February, 8.767±2.501 mg/L, April, 16.886±3.157 mg/L and June, 7.271±1.110 mg/L. Variation in concentration showed that April > February > June > December. Results recorded in the sediments were December, 39.8427±13.5 mg/Kg; February, 29.5322±5.301 mg/Kg; April, 50.5040±16.813 mg/Kg and June; 16.6545±3.35 mg/Kg. The variation in concentration showed that April > December > February > June. The variations observed in of total petroleum hydrocarbons content in the river indicated that the contamination source was primarily anthropogenic. It is therefore recommended that effective measures and adequate steps be taken by the government to mitigate the effect that may result from the accumulation of the total petroleum hydrocarbons in the river and on the aquatic inhabitants and man who depends on the river for daily living.