MODELLING IKPOBA RIVER WATER QUALITY USING PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS (PCA) METHOD

This paper examined the effects of brewery wastewater on the quality of water in Ikpoba River which has experienced significant pollution over the years, with the intention of determining the main pollutant in the river water. Samples were recovered from eight (8) different locations covering a total distance of 750 m: one sample from upstream at 150 m from the effluent discharge location, two samples from effluents discharge point and five samples from downstream location at 150 m interval. Samples were taken twice monthly in March, May and July, 2014 during period of intense activity of production. The physcio-chemical analyses of the twenty-five (25) selected parameters were calculated and values obtained were used to calculate the water Quality index of the river. The results indicated that Ikpoba River is severely polluted (WQI = -5429792.89, in SN1, March, 2014) as a result of untreated brewery effluent hence Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to determine the parameter that contributes mainly to the pollution and those that contributed minimally. Evaluation of the PCA results shows that the only reoccurring parameter is Copper hence it is concluded that Copper is the only component factor that influences the river water quality throughout the period under study. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that any proposed treatment method must be targeted at the removal of copper in addition to other factors of high contributory effects.