Browsing by Author "Eme, Chidinma Christiana"

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    Proliferation of petrol stations: Risk, identification and design of groundwater quality monitoring wells in Owerri West, Imo State, Nigeria
    (Federal University of Technology, Owerri, 2017-11) Eme, Chidinma Christiana
    Petrol stations located along three roads: Nekede-Ihiagwa – Aba Road (1), OwerriWest segment of Port-Harcourt Road (2) and Owerri-West segment of Onitsha Road (3) were specifically investigated and mapped using Global Positioning System (GPS). Results show that the number of petrol stations is more than necessary. The 8 km Road (1) has 26 petrol stations; the 14 km Road (2) has 24 petrol stations while the 6 km Road (3) has 20 petrol stations. Out of a total of 70 petrol stations, 46% were functional, 42% were non functional, 8% were abandoned and 4% were under construction at time of this investigation. Petrol stations that were not properly situated were 64% while 1% is encroached by new developing structures. The petrol stations have their age range between 2 to 22 years, number of underground storage tanks (USTs) from 3 to 12 and average depth of USTs as 3.6 m (12 ft.). All the stations have similar size USTs and same corrosion prevention treatment of only bitumen coating and wrapping with black polyethylene. No cathodic protection. Electrical resistivity inversion gave average depth to groundwater as 24.5 m (80 ft) and lithology consisting predominantly of sand and gravel beds which implies that leakage from USTs would easily migrate to the water table. Drainage analysis confirmed surface drainage towards SouthSW, corresponding to groundwater flow direction. USTs between ages of 15 to 22 years are at greater risk of corrosion and leakage, whereas approximately one million people in the area depend on groundwater for drinking and other domestic uses. Six monitoring well locations have been identified based on groundwater flow direction (South-SW), cluster of petrol stations, and age (≥ 15 years) of USTs.