O.O. Ogunlaja and A. Ogunlaja (Nigeria)
Petroleum refinery, water sources, physico-chemical parameters, histopathology, haematology, albino mice.
Petroleum refineries present major health hazards for human communities, marine and terrestrial ecosystems where they are situated. The levels of some selected physico-chemical parameters were determined in 20 different water sources (Ground water and Surface water) within a refinery host community. The results showed values within World Health Organization drinking water standards, except for Heavy metals like Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb), Iron (Fe) and Nickel (Ni). Iron level in Bore hole (2.32mg/l) and Well5 (0.42mg/l) were higher than the WHO desirable limit for drinking water of 0.1mg/l. Nickel levels in River and point of discharge (0.17mg/l and 0.14mg/l respectively) were also higher than the WHO limit (0.02mg/l) for water bodies. Cadmium levels in River (0.61mg/l), Bore hole (1.04mg/l), Well16 (0.02mg/l) and well17 (0.03mg/l) were all higher than the WHO limit (0.003mgl). The histopathology of the kidney of albino mice exposed to all water samples showed moderate and mild congestion of interstitial blood vessels. Spleen of albino mice exposed to all samples showed no significant lesion. The ANOVA analysis of the haematology results showed no significant differences with increasing days of exposure in RBC (0.004, P< 0.05) and PCV (0.002, P<0.05) except WBC results which showed significant differences (0.42, P<0.05) with increasing days of exposure.
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