ABSTRACT
Water sediment plays a very important role in the aquatic ecosystem. It serves a very wide range of purposes for the aquatic ecosystem. Water sediment are a product of the breaking down and degradation of rocks, soil erosion and decomposition of organic matters. Sediment pollution is a major wide issue that has greatly affected the aquatic ecosystem and surrounding environment at large. Siluko river is located at (Latitudes 06˚32'22.5'' N and 06˚31'59.7'' N and Longitudes 005˚09'32.5'' E and 005˚09'20.8'' E), a stream in siluko Town, Edo state Nigeria. Sediment samples where collected from four stations. Heavy metals observed where iron, zinc, copper, manganese, chromium, cobalt, nickel and lead, with concentration values of 0.4-2.65mg/kg, 0.29-0.99mg/kg,0.10-0.53, 0.034-0.08mg/kg, 0.054-0.09mg/kg, 0.02-0.05mg/kg, 0.03-0.05mg/kg, 0.008-0.01mg/kg, respectively. It would be observed that the concentration of lead and nickel is lowest compared to the other heavy metals with the concentration zinc being the highest in value. Siluko River is plagued with the activity of oil bunkering by the locals, this activity affects the aquatic ecosystem in Siluko negatively. From the results of this study, sediments of Siluko River can be said to be polluted.
