Department of Environmental Management and Toxicology, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, P.M.B.7267, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria.
Department of Environmental Management and Toxicology, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, P.M.B.7267, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria.
J Environ Manage. 2021 Jul 1;289:112431. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112431. Epub 2021 Apr 2.
The aim of this work is to evaluate the atmospheric rainwater chemistry and neutralization potential in oil producing areas of southern region of Nigeria. Rainwater samples were analysed for pH, EC, Cl, SO, NO, Ca, and NH. Correlation, principal component analysis (PCA) and neutralization indicators as source apportionment methods were used to determine atmospheric acid precursors . Results show that the collected samples were severely acidified with pH value of 5.5 in oil producing communities and weak acid: pH 6.5 in non oil producing areas and varied with seasons. Fractional acidity (FA) constituted 98-99% of neutralizing ability, neutralization factor (NF) recorded Cl, Ca and NH in values of 0.41, 0.43 and 0.003 with Ca from sea salt, being the most neutralizing substance than NHfrom agricultural practice. The neutralizing and acidifying potentials (NP/AP) recorded a mean of 0.4, showing weak alkaline effect on atmospheric acid rain in oil producing communities. The positive correlation among ionic species implicates pH, SOand NO as causes of severe atmospheric acidity. Conclusions were made that enforcement of the existing environmental laws to checkmate the emission of acid precursors is crucial for the survival of man and entire ecosystem.
本工作旨在评估尼日利亚南部产油区大气雨水化学特性和中和潜力。采集雨水样品并分析 pH 值、电导率、Cl-、SO2-4、NO-3、Ca2+和 NH+4。采用相关性、主成分分析（PCA）和中和指标作为源解析方法，以确定大气酸前体。结果表明，采集的样品在产油社区严重酸化，pH 值为 5.5，而非产油区为弱酸性：pH 值为 6.5，并随季节变化而变化。分数酸度（FA）构成了中和能力的 98-99%，中和因子（NF）记录的 Cl-、Ca2+和 NH+4 值分别为 0.41、0.43 和 0.003，其中来自海盐的 Ca2+是最具中和能力的物质，而来自农业实践的 NH+4则较弱。中和与酸化潜力（NP/AP）的平均值为 0.4，表明产油社区大气酸雨呈弱碱性。离子种类之间的正相关性表明 pH 值、SO2-4和 NO-3是大气酸度严重的原因。结论是，执行现有的环境法规以遏制酸前体的排放对于人类和整个生态系统的生存至关重要。
