Health risk and quality assessment of non-roof-harvested rainwater from an oil-producing community in Nigeria

This study assessed the health risk and quality of non-roof-harvested rainwater in an oil-producing community in Edo South, Nigeria. Standard analytical procedures, atomic absorption spectrophotometry and pour plate technique were utilized in the determination of physico-chemical, heavy metals and microbial parameters, respectively. Human health risk was estimated using US EPA risk assessment methodology. The pH ranges from 3.55 to 6.62 which indicated acidic rainwater; sulphate and nitrate had a range of 5.6 to 36.8, 0.11 to 0.77 mg/l and 0.2 to 0.93 mg/l, respectively. Iron and lead concentrations ranged from 0.27 to 1.79 mg/l and 0.0 to 0.025 mg/l, chromium concentrations ranged from 0.0 to 0.028 mg/l and cadmium concentrations ranged from and 0.0 to 0.021 mg/l. The total heterotrophic bacterial and total fungal counts ranged from 0.5 to 2.0 × 10 cfu/ml and 0.0 to 2.2 × 10 cfu/10 cfu/ml, respectively. The total coliform counts ranged from 2 to 12 MPN/100 ml. Health risk assessment result showed that the hazard risk from ingestion of cadmium with rain water from studied locations was 5 × 10^-6. The findings therefore suggest that there should be increased awareness about the health hazards associated with continuous intake of non-roof-harvested rain water from areas with polluted atmosphere.