Emergency Approach: Cleaning and Rehabilitation of Hand- Dug Well in Civil Engineering Department, Federal Polytechnic Ede, Nigeria

Water is one of the basic necessities of life and good drinking water is of paramount importance to health. This work was carried out as an emergency approach in cleaning and rehabilitating a hand dug well in Civil engineering department of The Federal Polytechnic Ede in order to ameliorate WASH operation during the COVID 19 pandemic. Also returning the hand dug well to its former condition before the man-made disaster. Four step approach was used which includes, Inventory of the existing well; Rehabilitation and cleaning of the well; Disinfection of the well and lastly, Dewater the well. The water quality parameters examined on the field were PH ( using a pocket size PH meter) and Turbidity ( using locally available materials like a clean oil drum with minimum depth of 50cm, a bucket, a copper coin with diameter of 2.5cm and a steel tape measure for estimation of a reasonable NTU ). However, other physico-chemical analysis were done under laboratory conditions to determine whether/ not the water sample conformed to the global (WHO) and (SON) standards requirement for potable (safe drinking) water. Consequent upon test, it was observed that the water sample showed conformity to the standards requirements with respect to the PH value and Turbidity both for field test and laboratory analysis. The PH for the field test is 7.2 while the Turbidity is less than 5NTU. In respect to the laboratory analysis, the PH, Turbidity, Colour, Temperature, Chlorine residual, Total hardness, Alkalinity, Chloride, Calcium ions, Total dissolved solids, Nitrate, Nitrite, Sulphate, Iron, Zinc, Nickel all conformed to the standards requirements. All the physico-chemical parameters gave a wholesome and reasonable permissible limit making the water good and acceptable for the emergency usage. Also the hand dug well was returned to its former condition. The institution and the department should support further measures for permanent rehabilitation of the hand dug well making it fit for consumption thereby facilitating more operation of WASH. Keynote: Hand-dug well, Rehabilitation, Cleaning, WASH. DOI: 10.7176/JEES/12-5-02 Publication date:May 31st 202

Effect of Selected Petroleum Products on the Geotechnical Properties of Lateritic Soil

Petroleum contamination causes significant environmental impacts and presents substantial hazards to human health. This study was carried out to identify the effect of selected petroleum products such as petrol, diesel oil and engine oil on the geotechnical properties of lateritic soil in Ede Town (Federal Polytechnic Ede North Campus). Soil samples were collected from both the natural soil (non-oil spillage soil) and contaminated area where there were oil spillage and addition of petrol, diesel oil and engine oil in varying percentages of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% respectively. The results showed an increase in grain size distribution on both soil samples with a reduction in optimum moisture content, maximum dry density and Atterberg limit (liquid and plastic limit) respectively. The test results showed an increase in maximum dry density with increasing oil contamination of diesel oil to 20% with reduced optimum moisture content. It was found that the maximum dry density for lateritic soil decreased as petrol content increased up to 20%. However, the reduction in the California bearing ratio due to selected petroleum products (petrol, diesel oil and engine oil) contamination, shows that the presence of these petroleum products has remarkable effect on the geotechnical properties of lateritic soil. The effect of petrol on the geotechnical properties of soil seems to be very low of 0.70grams/ml compared to that of diesel oil of about 0.832grams/ml and engine oil of about 0.875grams/ml respectively due to little time it tends to dry off. The lateritic soil is classified as an A-2-6 soil by AASHTO system and are adjudged suitable for sub grade, good fill and sub-base and base materials. But when being contaminated, the strength of the soil reduces and makes it unsuitable for road foundation design and other construction works. Therefore, lateritic soil contaminated with these petroleum products requires stabilization or an improvement technique such as the use of prefabricated vertical drains. Keywords: Lateritic soil, Petroleum products, Contamination, Compaction, California bearing ratio (CBR) DOI: 10.7176/CER/14-3-08 Publication date:May 31st 202