Groundwater resources of the Niger Delta: Quality implications and management considerations

Abstract

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is of great socio-economic importance because of its huge and abundant reserves of crude oil and natural gas. The phenomenal increase in both industrial and social activities within the area in recent times has led to increase in groundwater abstraction rates. Groundwater development in the Niger Delta region has been carried out with little hydrogeological considerations. This is probably, due to strong political and other extraneous pressures. Consequently, borehole drilling has been indiscriminately and randomly sited and located, resulting to a myriad of problems. As a result, boreholes have failed where there are abundant groundwater storage, and many a time, have been drilled in, obviously, most unpromising locations. Salinity, bacteriological contamination, presence of undesirable iron and manganese as well as the high acidity of the groundwater and consequent corrosiveness pose serious distribution problems in the area. Efforts to solve the problems have been unsuccessful and supply of potable water remains grossly inadequate. Recent development plans proposed for the Niger Delta would call for high water demand. There is therefore an urgent need for a meaningful approach to the study of groundwater resources of the region. It is therefore hoped that many of the observations made in this paper will not only form a guideline for meaningful collection of data for quantitative analysis in future, but will also help in the understanding of the nature of groundwater resources of the region.