International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology- Volume4Issue2- 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 141

Spatial Variation of Suspended Sediment
Transport on Omi River, South-Western Nigeria
A.A. Adegbola
#1
, O. S. Olaniyan
*2

#
Department of Civil Engineering, LadokeAkintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso,
*2
Department of Civil Engineering, LadokeAkintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso,

Abstract
Prediction of rate of sedimentation from any river
discharge is important in the design of flood mitigation, dam-
reservoir and hydraulic structures.River Omi is an un-gauged river
located within Ido Local Government Area of Ibadan,South-Western
Nigeria. Spatial variation in suspended sediment transport was
examined based on turbidity records and measured suspended solids
from seven stations along 14.1 km reach of the river. The
downstreampattern of suspended sediment concentrations shows an
increase in total suspended solid due to predominant farming
activities in the dry season. It was observed that erosion of the
farmland might be a significant source of wash load during the rainy
seasons. The upstreamtributaries were discovered to be the major
source of sedimentation. Some additional sediments were observed
to be added at the midstream, possibly due to the weekly economic
activities at Omi Adio market. The river produced a sediment load of
1.31 kg
-1
/km
-2
/year.
KeywordsTurbidity, Total Load, Flood, Wash Load,
Suspended Sediment

I. INTRODUCTION
Ibadan (Oyo State, Nigeria) is the largest city in West
Africa and the second largest in Africa, with land size
covering an area of 400 km
2
. The city is located on geographic
grid reference longitude 3 5E, latitude 7 20N. It is situated at
an average height of 200mabove sea level, drained by three
major river basins (Ogunpa, Ona and Ogbere) and surrounded
by secondary rainforest as well as a savannah. Spatially, it
sprawls over a radius of 12-15 km and experiences a mainly
tropical climate with an estimated annual rainfall of about
1250 mm[1].
It has a tropical wet and dry climate, with a lengthy
wet season and relatively constant temperatures throughout
the year. The rainy season span from March through October,
though August break is always attributed with lower or no
precipitation. This scenario almost divides the wet season into
two different wet seasons. The dry season runs from
November to February forms the citys dry season, during
which Ibadan experiences the typical West African harmattan
[3]. The study area (Ibadan) is shown in Figure 1.
The objectives of this study include:
(i) To measure turbidity value across the across
River Omi.
(ii) To assesssedimenttransportingcapability of
River Omi in a rapidlyurbanizedcommunity.
(iii) To develop the relationshipbetween discharge,
gauge and sedimentload
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology- Volume4Issue2- 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 142


Figure 1 Map of part of Ibadan showing Sampling Stations on River Omi
II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
Turbidity meter, ultrasonic flow meter, calibrated rope,
meter rule and filtering apparatus with 0.45m filter, were
used in the study. The turbidity of the water sample fromthe
field was measured and later filtered. The filters were weighed
before and after oven drying. Ultrasonic flow meter was used
to measure the velocity of the river at the surface. Discharge
records were available from a network of continuous gauging
stations. The available discharge and gauge data were within
1978 to 1982 and gauge data from 2007 to 2009. Others are
turbidity, suspended solid, gauge and average velocity data
from2011 to 2012. There were cases of missing data for some
years due to lack of keeping appropriate record by the
monitoring authority, thus synthetic data were generated to fill
up. Landsat image of the catchment was also used with the
Arch Map software to better understand the study area.
Sediment samples were taken twice in a week and this was
increased during high flood events when turbidity changes
more quickly. A relationship between turbidity and suspended
sediment concentration was established at each location by
sampling a wide range of turbidities and sediment
concentrations over a year. These were all significant to
the0.05 level. Most stormevents have duration of at least 2 to
3 days so, while the daily sample may underestimate actual
peak values, turbidity events will not be completely missed. In
all cases, suspended sediment concentrations were determined
using standard light-weight hand held US DH-48 sediment
sampler. The procedure used was in line with [5]. The
suspended sediment concentration was computed thus:

SSC =
{(wcght o] mcmbunc ]Itc+d csduc)-wcght o] mcmbunc ]Itc}(mg)1000
voIumc o] PItccd wutc(mL)

(1)
=mgI
-1
/ 1000/ 1000/ 1000 =tonnc I
-1

Where:
SSC =Suspended Sediment Concentration (mg/l)

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology- Volume4Issue2- 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 143


There is great variation in the monthly sediment
concentrations as shown from Table 1. From the statistical
analysis, the Total Suspended Solids (TSS) effect on each
measuring points are equal since its P value: (0.226) 0.05.
Similarly, the monthly variation differs significantly from
each measuring station as its p value: (0.01) 0.05. This is
evident in the results obtained from August, 2011 to August,
2012.
Flow is dominated by flood events that occurred in
Ibadan on August 26
th
, 2011. There are many peaks in
suspended sediment concentration values due to wash load
fromflooding. A number of general patterns can be observed.
Low flow stormresponses are more peaked and high sediment
concentrations are of shorter duration at River Omi. Sediment
response peakedness increases within upstream and
downstream from August to December, 2011 except during
flooding. During flooding (between September-October,
2011), the sediment concentration peakedness was recorded at
the mid streamand then decreases downstreamsignificantly
with increasing attenuation of the stormresponses. Sediment
concentration was at its peak only at upstreamfromJanuary to
August, 2012 with the values ranging from(2 - 7.4) mg/l.
In contrast to the low flow pattern, concentrations
increase fromthe upstreamstations to midstreamand then
decrease considerably in the two downstream stations, as
shown in Figure 2. At Lade, Aba Nla and Railway stations
(upstream), the more pronounced peaks were associated with
flow pattern and farming activities that span across the year.
Sediments are trapped at station Z
2
(Aba nla) due to flood
control plant within the zone. Sediment concentrations were
relatively low at the midstream due to trapped sediment by
plant and accumulated debris in the channel. The land use
pattern across River Omi is shown in Figure 3. The upstream
stations are dominated by agricultural lands which are sources
of sedimentation during rainy season. The urbanized part of
the catchment is close to the midstreamwhile the downstream
is a degraded zone with less agricultural activities.
In the lower river, at Igisogba and Atere, there were
concentration peaks only at dry season characterized by low
flow pattern. Farming activities, fishing, washing and social
activities on the river may account for higher sediment
concentration at dry season. As the intensity of precipitation
increases, the sediment concentration increases as well. The
sediment concentration increases from (0.4 to 6.13) mg/l from
January to August, 2012. This implies that discharge is
among the deterministic factors of sediment transport on River
Omi.
Sediment loads have been calculated based on the
data from April, 2010 till December, 2012. They
weredetermined using the total daily discharge and the
suspended sediment concentrations from weekly turbidity
readings. Inevitably errors will result from the use of a single
daily turbidity value, especially during flood events when
sediment concentration is changing more rapidly. The
magnitude of these errors was tested during the August 26
th
,
2011 flood in Ibadan, and was relatively small.
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology- Volume4Issue2- 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 144

Many of the sediment concentration peaks were
associated with minor discharge events where flow was
derived from tributary runoff and the resulting mass of
sediment transport was relatively small. Upstream trends in
sediment load and downstream trend in discharge value are
shown in the annual sediment budget and flows for the rivers
based on existing and measured data. Care must be taken with
these results because sedimenttransport in the River Omi is
highly variable and two years of record may not accurately
characterize longer termtrends.

TABLE I: Statistical Analysis of monthly Suspended
Sediment Concentration
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
SOURCE OF
VARIATION
SS DF MS F P
VALUE
P
CRI TICAL
ROW 1351.763 5 270.353 1.434 0.2267 2.3828
COLUMN 6919.55 11 629.05 3.337 0.00142 1.96754
ERROR 10368.43 55 188.517
TOTAL 18639.744 71



Figure 2 Total Suspended Solids across River Omi

.

Figure 3 Land-Use Map of River Omi Catchment Area

The daily gauge reading relates well with discharge
record with coefficient of regression of 0.973 fromexisted
data. The peak discharge is mostly between Augusts to
September from 1978 till date. The gauge reading has
decreased by 36.3percent from 1980 till date (Figure 4-6).
Total Suspended Load on River Omi is seasonal in nature. In
Nigeria, there exist rainy seasons between (April-October) and
dry seasons between (November-March). There is a breakage
in rainfall in August. Although, this pattern may vary due to
-20
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 2 4 6 8
S
S
C

(
m
g
/
l
)
Station (Z)
Suspended Sediment Concentration Solids (SSC) of
River Omi
Aug,11
Sept,11
Oct,11
Nov,11
Dec,11
Jan,12
Feb,12
March,12
April,12
May,12
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology- Volume4Issue2- 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 145

changes in weather and human factors. Generally speaking,
Total Suspended Load (TSL) decreases downstream from
January to August, 2012. The sediment concentration at
midstream tends to increase at high discharge within June to
August, 2012.
Although, average velocity tends to decrease
downstream from 0.75 m/s from upstream to 0.4m/s at
midstream, downstream average velocity varies from (0.31
0.4) m/s. Scouring of the benthic layer may not be visible
downstream at such mild discharges. The average depth
downstream River Omi ranges from (0.6 - 1.5) m. During
flooding at peak discharge (August and September, 2011),
total suspended solid at the midstreamwas extremely high.
This is due to high discharge which erodes river channel and
flood plain. The contributing tributaries on the river also
discharge at midstream which added to total suspended value.
This additional wash load is responsible for the peak value of
TSS (123.2 mg/l). Some of the decrease in load was
associated with irrigation abstractions. The magnitude of this
loss cannot be accurately calculated but an approximate figure
may be derived.


Fig. 4 Daily Gauges against Discharge


Fig. 5 Discharge Measurements across the Year


Fig. 6Gauge Readings across the Year

The spatial variations in both sediment
concentrations and loads show a consistent pattern except
y =1.648e
1.454x
R =0.973
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
0 2 4 6 8 10
D
i
s
c
h
a
r
g
e
(
C
F
S
)
Guage Reading(m)
Daily Guage against Discharge Records
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
-500
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
0 5 10 15
D
i
s
c
h
a
r
g
e
(
C
F
S
)
Months
Discharge Measurements across the year
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0 5 10 15
G
u
a
g
e

R
e
a
d
i
n
g
(
m
)
Months
Guage Reading across the Year
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
2007
2008
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology- Volume4Issue2- 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 146

during flooding. Both are relatively high at upstream and
decreases downstreamdepending on the season. During the
rainy season, the sediment concentration is at the peak at
upstream and tends to decrease downstream. It was observed
that the mid sediment concentration at midstreamin August
was arbitrarily higher than upstream value. This was due to
the recent dredging exercise on the river by the present Oyo
State government in July 20
th
, 2012. The dredged materials
were deposited close to the river channel which could be
eroded at high discharge.
The reverse is the case at dry season (October-
December) where the sediment concentration tends to increase
downstream due to irrigation practice, farming, domestic and
social activities. From J anuary to March, 2011, the sediment
concentration was at peak at upstreamof River Omi. This
trend continued in April and May, 2012 with sediment
concentration peakedness recorded at upstream.
In contrast, the low flow sediment concentration
pattern shows a progressive downstream decrease during dry
season and early part of rainy season. At midstream where
sediment increases, the geometry corresponds to the region
with all the major tributaries. It is steeper, and drains
agricultural land. At downstream, where sediments decreased,
there are few tributaries and relief is much steeper. The most
important decrease in sediment is through deposition of
sediment on the flood plain. There is a considerable increase
in gradient downstream River Omi with a resulting increase in
energy. Also, there is a major widening of the flood plain at
midstream, which narrowed down at the downstream.

IV. CONCLUSIONS
River Omi showed considerable spatial variation in
the transport of sediments through its 14.1 km reach studied.
Sediment concentrations displayed two patterns:
(a) A downstreamdecrease in sediment concentrations during
periods of low flow;
(b) An increase upstream, then a decrease downstream during
flood events;
The rapid development of infrastructures in Omi
Adio area of Ibadan may be responsible for the dramatic
increase in the surface runoff and higher sediment delivery
into the Omi River. Activities within the vicinity of the basin
such as, agriculture, deforestation and mining, also
contributed to a large extent on the increase in sediment
volume.
The relationship between discharge (Q), gauge (h)
and sediment load (y) on River Omi watershed is :y (
mg
I
) =
(0.8659lnx +2.866)
(:/ )
n
_ .
The flood sediment loads have a similar pattern to the
flood concentrations. The annual sediment loads are
dominated by flood sediment transport. Most of the
sedimentsare generated in a limited area fromthe farming
activities at upstream. It would then be transported only a
short distance to be deposited on the flood plain at midstream
which continues downstream. Sediment transport is minimal
over much of the lower low energy section of River Omi.
While this pattern differs fromthat reported by Thorns and
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology- Volume4Issue2- 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 147

Walker, 1991, it is consistent with the other research in
Nigerian basins, as reported by Adeogun et al. (2011).

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the technical
staff of the Department of Civil Engineering, Ladoke Akintola
University of Technology, for helping with the laboratory
work of this project. Our project students that have helped for
field sampling are also appreciated. The Oyo State Water
Corporation is acknowledged for providing the available
discharge record on the river and its tributaries.

REFERENCES

[1] A.A. Adegbola and O.S. Olaniyan. Temporal Variation of Suspended
Sediment Transport in River Omi, South-Western Nigeria,
International J ournal of Applied Engineering Research (7) 4, pp. 421-
431.March, 2012.
[2] B. K. Adeogun, S. B. Igboro and F. B. Ibrahim, Estimate of Bed load
Transport in Kubanni Watershed in Northern Nigeria using Grain size
Distribution Data, International J ournal of Water Resources and
Environmental Engineering Vol. 3(5), pp. 102-108.
http://www.academicjournals.org/ijwree.
[3] I.J . Goldface and Irokalibe, Water Management in Federal and Federal
NigeriaPerspective. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Nigeria, 2006.
[4] O.S. Olaniyan and A.A. Adegbola, River Geometry Computation on
River omi South Western Nigeria, LAP Publisher, Germany, 2012.
[5] L. J. Olive and W. A. Rieger, Streamsuspended sediment transport
monitoring why, how and what is being measured? In: Erosion and
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Bogen, D. E. Walling & T. Day) (Proc. Oslo Symposium, August
1992), 245-254. IAHS Publ. No. 210