International Journal of Advanced Research in Chemical Science Volume 7, Issue 9, 2020, PP 09-18 ISSN No.: 2349-0403 DOI: https:// doi.org/10.20431/2349-0403.0709002 www.arcjournals.org International Journal of Advanced Research in Chemical Science Page | 9 Model Assessment of Potential Risk Associated with Common Fish Species from Oguta Lake, Nigeria Verla Andrew Wirnkor 1* , Joel Ejike Ejiako 1, Verla Evelyn Ngozi 2 , Iwuoha Godson Ndubuisi 4 1 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Imo State University Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. 2 Department of Environmental Technology, Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria 1. INTRODUCTION Fish is a good source of protein and it is consumed by most people in the world. Fishes have been recognised as good accumulators of organic and inorganic pollutants [1]. Oguta Lake has a history of oil spillage. Moreover, the lake is used for transportation and there is constant dredging activities going on the lake which could contribute to the concentration of these pollutants through emission from the exhaust and possible leakages of the oil from the tanks of the machines. Again, the lake serves as a source of water and fish for Oguta people and also an outlet for sewage. Studies have shown that the various anthropogenic activities at the lake are detrimental to the water quality as well as fishes in the water. A researcher [2] assessed some important physical and environmental aspects of Oguta Lake and its watershed, Niger Delta Basin. The result from the study showed that the areas covered by the Oguta Lake water body is about 1,870.4 m 2 (68.2%) while degraded portions of the lake occupied an area of 1152.25 M 2 (38.8%). The degraded portion according to the work was with a total area of 1099.97 m 2 (36.91%), areas covered by sediments and eutrophication with total areas of 41.3 m 2 (1.39%) and 14.9 m 2 (0.5%), respectively which was attributed to anthropogenic activities in the lake. The study also showed that built-up areas outside the vicinity of the lake with an area of about 4,983.3 m 2 have very strong positive correlation (R 2 =1) with the degradable portions of the lake. This means that the lake is polluted and anthropogenic activities are mainly responsible for the degradation of the lake.Research[3] assessed the quality of water and heavy metal content of fish species from OgutaLake in Imo state. Chromium, iron, nickel, cadmium and copper were dictated and lead, mercury and arsenic were absent.The concentrations of the metals were higher in Mudfish and Tilapia while the lower concentrations alternated between Catfish and Ifuru. Cadmium, nickel and iron levels exceeded permitted limit of Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) in all the samples except for copper. It was concluded that the water of Oguta Lake will sustain aquatic life *Corresponding Author: Verla Andrew Wirnkor, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Imo State University Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria Abstract: Fish can bioconcentrate heavy metals which become absorbed into the human body through the food chain. In this study, four fish species from Ogutalake were analysed for metal concentration and data subjected to some chemometric assessment. 1g each of the 4 fish samples were weighed and digested in 5mL of nitric acid. The digested samples were analysed for heavy metals using GBC scientific sensAA dual Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Contamination factors were generally low ( Cf<6). However, contamination factors were significant except for manganese, zinc and copper in all fish samples. The pollution load index are in the order Okpo>Ubu>Ifuru>Egu respectively. Okpo showed highest daily dietary intake amongst all fish species with about 0.826 mg/kg/Bw/day in children, while adults EDI had 0.142 mg/kgBWday-1. Other fishes showed much lower values of EDI in the following order: Egu<Ifuru<Ubu<Okpo. All fish exhibited values lower than the recommended daily intake (12500 mg/kg/day) set by NRC. The mean EDI were in the following order: Zn>Mn>Ni>Cd>Cu. Weak positive correlations were exhibited by Ni/Mn (0.26) and Zn/Cd (0.14) while strong positive correlations were between Cd/Mn (0.81) and Zn/Cu (0.83). Significant negative correlations were exhibited between Ni/Zn (-0.96), Ni/Cu (-0.79) and Cu/Mn (-0.64) respectively. The positive and negative correlations suggest that the metals had similar and dissimilar sources of contamination. The study showed that, consumption of fish from Ogutalake could pose health hazards. Keywords: Anthropogenic, Contamination, Pollution, Toxicity, Species, Health hazards.