Institute of Environmental Management and Quality Control
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://dspace.njala.edu.sl/handle/20.500.144402/148
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Item Utilizing Geospatial Tools to Assign Unique Identifiers to Water Bodies in a Low-Income Country(Scientific Research Publishing, 2021) Mansaray, Abubakarr SidiqueInland waters support the growth of several sectors including mining, agriculture, and health. This makes it crucial to have sustainable quantity and quality through conservation practices. Achieving sustainability requires information on the spatial distribution of water bodies. This requirement is particularly critical in low-income nations where dependence on natural resources is a key driver to economic growth. Unfortunately, these nations lack the resources to promote costly waterbody characterization. This study pre-sents a cost-effective approach in assigning Unique Identifiers (UIDs) that define locations and characteristics of rivers and streams. Our objective is to develop a scheme that can be used to identify and characterize rivers and streams in a nation. We utilized an open-source Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of NASA’s ASTER satellite and the hydrology tool in ArcGIS 10.7.1. The DEM was imported to ArcGIS followed by delineation of hydrologic regions, subregions, and stream orders. Each stream segment was given a UID based on its region and Strahler’s stream order system. We present a case study analysis for two regions within Sierra Leone using water quality data of selected rivers and streams. These will lay the foundation for a nationwide coding exercise and provide a useful reference for water resource practitioners.Item Assessment of the Healthcare Waste Infrastructure at Kambia Government Hospital, Sierra Leone(Science Publishing Group, 2024-11-26) Kamara, AbubakarrThis study assessed the healthcare waste management (HCWM) infrastructure at Kambia Government Hospital (KGH), Sierra Leone. We evaluated various aspects of HCWM, including waste segregation, storage, collection, transportation, and disposal. Our findings revealed critical deficiencies, such as inadequate storage facilities, insufficient waste bins, and a lack of dedicated transportation systems. These shortcomings pose significant risks to healthcare workers, the general public, and the environment, including the potential for the spread of infectious diseases and contamination of the environment. To improve HCWM practices at KGH, we recommend implementing several key strategies. These include investing in adequate storage facilities, providing appropriate waste bins, establishing a dedicated waste transportation system, and conducting comprehensive staff training on HCWM protocols. Regular training sessions should cover topics such as waste classification, segregation, storage, collection, transportation, and disposal techniques. By empowering healthcare workers with the necessary knowledge and skills, we can significantly enhance HCWM practices at KGH. Furthermore, it is crucial to establish a robust system for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of HCWM interventions. Regular inspections of storage areas, waste bins, and transportation vehicles can help identify and address potential issues. By implementing these recommendations, KGH can improve its HCWM practices and contribute to a healthier and safer environment for its community. Effective HCWM is essential to protect public health and the environment. Poor management of healthcare waste can lead to the spread of infectious diseases, contamination of water sources, and exposure to hazardous chemicals. By addressing the identified deficiencies and implementing best practices, KGH can significantly improve its HCWM performance and reduce the associated risks.Item Environmental and Socio-economic Impacts of Sand Mining in Selected Coastal Communities along the Western Rural-Freetown Peninsular in Sierra Leone(Science Publishing Group, 2025-06-17) Mabey, Prince TongorThis study examines the environmental and socio-economic impacts of sand mining in three selected coastal communities (Hamilton, John Obey and Laka) along the Western Area Rural-Freetown peninsula in Sierra Leone. Coastal sand mining poses significant environmental and social problems. It damages ecosystems, increases coastal erosion and vulnerability to storms, threatens biodiversity, and can lead to social issues like corruption and violence. The study employed a quantitative cross-sectional perception survey-based research design. A simple random sampling technique was used to representatively select 666 community respondents including heads of households, community leaders, sand miners, sellers, and transporters. A combination of Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) and Excel Software Package were employed. A multinomial logistic regression (MNL) model was used to analyse the data. Findings reveal that the determinants of respondents’ perceived knowledge on the negative impacts of sand mining were mainly demographic attributes including age (p<0.001), marital status (p<0.001), family size (p<0.001), and monthly household income (p<0.001). The findings further revealed that accident (p<0.001), community conflicts (p<0.001), drug abuse (p<0.001), and knowledge of negative effects of sand mining (p<0.001), exhibited a negative significant impact of sand mining. The determinants of respondents’ perceived knowledge on the positive impacts of sand mining indicated that occupation has a positive and significant impact on sand mining. The benefits of utilizing sand in the communities (p<0.001) and benefits of sand mining (p<0.001) had a negative significant impact on sand mining. It is recommended that increased awareness on the negative impacts of coastal sand mining coupled with the implementation of environmental policies could help to mitigate some of the negative environmental impacts.Item Assessment of Public Drinking Water Quality and Hygienic Conditions in Selected Communities in Tonkolili District, Sierra Leone(2025-06-10) Mabey, Prince TongorThis study investigated the public drinking water quality parameters from different sources, streams, springs, wells, and reservoirs and the hygienic conditions of people living in six communities in Yoni Chiefdom, Tonkolili District. The study involved both laboratory analysis and a survey on the perceptions of respondents on the hygienic conditions of drinking water. A total of 75 questionnaires were administered to respondents that fetch water for household consumption. The results revealed that different levels of turbidity, pH, temperature, oxygen demand (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), magnesium, nitrate, and chloride from streams, springs, wells, and reservoir water obtained based on well-established procedures were within the world health organization (WHO) standard for drinking water. The findings also revealed that four communities (Mamancha, Dogbokarama, Mile 91, and Malenpeh) recorded the highest mean turbidity values of 7.34 NTU, DO of 6.5 mg/l, NO3- of 11.00 mg/l and NO3- of 12.00 mg/l respectively, which exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) standard level for drinking water. Most (89.3%) of the respondents opined that they had easy access to drinking water throughout the year, and most of the respondents affirmed that the drinking water was odourless (81.3%) and tasteless (72.0%). However, the drinking water turns cloudy or milky during the dry season, as opined by 53.3% of the respondents. The majority (66.7%) of the respondents experience water-borne diseases in their communities, such as skin disease, typhoid, and cholera. Most (86.7%) of the drinking water sources are not treated and are 20 m away from the toilet and dustbin, as opined by 65.3% of the respondents. Findings indicate that the short distance and poor sanitary precautions are the probable causes of the contamination of the drinking water in these communities. The government should create an enabling policy environment regarding quality drinking water and hygienic conditions for adaptation as well as to implement routine monitoring to improve the health and sanitary conditions of the people.Item Effects of Land-Use Patterns and Land Cover Change on Freshwater Quality in the Guma Dam Catchment in Freetown, Sierra Leone(Scientific Research Publishing, 2026) Mabey, Prince TongorRapid land-use and land-cover (LULC) change poses significant threats to freshwater resources, particularly in rapidly urbanizing catchments in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study assessed the effects of LULC dynamics on freshwater quality in the Guma (Mile-13) Dam catchment, Freetown, Sierra Leone, between 2004 and 2023. Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI imagery from 2004, 2013, and 2023 were analyzed using post-classification change detection to quantify transitions among vegetation, agriculture, settlements, bare land, and water bodies. Water quality was evaluated through monthly sampling at upstream, midstream, and downstream locations from January to June 2023, covering key physicochemical and microbial parameters. To quantitatively link land-use change and water quality, normalized land-use pressure indices were developed, and Pearson correlation analysis was applied. Results indicate substantial urban expansion within the catchment, with vegetation-to-settlement conversion increasing by 39.40 km2 and total settlement gain reaching 55.47 km2 between 2013 and 2023. Water quality parameters were generally within World Health Organization (WHO) guideline limits for physicochemical variables; however, elevated turbidity (up to 5.0 NTU), episodic increases in nitrate and phosphate concentrations, and persistent detection of Escherichia coli indicate pollution risks. Pearson correlation analysis revealed strong positive relationships between settlement expansion and turbidity (r = 0.91), phosphate (r = 0.75), and nitrate (r = 0.59), while vegetation cover showed an inverse relationship with water quality degradation. These findings demonstrate that rapid urban expansion and vegetation loss are key drivers of declining water quality in the Guma Dam catchment. The study underscores the need for integrated land-use planning, protection of vegetated buffers, sustainable urban development, and continuous water-quality monitoring to safeguard Freetown’s primary water supply.Item Development and application of SWAT-MODFLOW in surface water-groundwater interactions: Current status and future challenges(Springer Science+Business Media, 2026-01-13) Kallon, Hadji DsClimate change and human activity have placed substantial pressure on water resources, underscoring the critical importance of understanding the surface water and groundwater interactions (SGIs). This article reviews the development and application of the coupled SWAT-MODFLOW model for characterizing SGIs. It highlights three key developmental stages, drawing on the seminal works of researchers. These models are powerful tools for simulating hydrological processes, nutrient transport, and climate change impacts on water resources. However, uncertainties related to parameterization, input databases, and model structure constrain their predictive accuracy. The integrated SWAT-MODFLOW model enhances integrated water resource simulations, but this comes at the cost of increased complexity; by contrast, standalone SWAT and MODFLOW models optimize analyses of surface water and groundwater systems, respectively. A further strength is its ability to accurately simulate SGIs by accounting for diverse influencing factors, though it requires more extensive input data and incurs higher computational costs than individual standalone models. Accordingly, for practical applications, researchers should select an appropriate model and a reasonable set of influencing factors based on the specific research topic and requirements.Item Conceptualizing Media Education and Digital Radio for Civic Commitment Among Secondary School Students in Freeown, Sierra Leone(Science Publishing Group, 2026-02-26) Egere, InakuThis study examined the effectiveness of digital radio media education in enhancing civic commitment among secondary school students in Freetown, Sierra Leone. A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test control group design was adopted. Using a multi-stage sampling technique, 240 senior secondary school students (SSS 1–3) were selected from four public secondary schools and equally assigned to an experimental group (n = 120) and a control group (n = 120). The experimental group participated in an eight-week digital radio podcast intervention on civic issues, delivered via mobile phones alongside the regular curriculum, while the control group received the regular curriculum only. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire measuring civic knowledge, civic attitudes, and behavioural intentions. The instrument demonstrated high reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.87). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and independent samples t-tests in SPSS (version 26). Findings revealed that baseline civic knowledge among participants was moderate, with cautiously positive attitudes and behavioural intentions. Post-test results showed statistically significant improvements in the experimental group compared to the control group across all outcome measures. Civic knowledge scores were significantly higher among students exposed to the digital radio intervention (M = 78%) than those in the control group (M = 55%), p <.001. Similarly, significant differences were observed in civic attitudes (M = 4.2 vs. 3.5) and behavioural intentions toward civic participation (M = 4.4 vs. 3.6), both at p <.001. The study concludes that digital radio media education effectively enhances civic knowledge, attitudes, and participation intentions among secondary school students, especially in resource-limited contexts. It highlights the value of mobile, culturally relevant audio content for promoting youth civic engagement and recommends integrating digital radio into civic education, creating after-school media clubs, strengthening school–NGO–media partnerships, and conducting long-term studies to assess sustained civic participation.Item Assessment of Physico-Chemical Parameters of Selected Sites along the Wanjei River, Pujehun District, Sierra Leone(Scientific Research Publishing, 2026) Mabey, Prince TongorThis study examined the physico-chemical parameters of river water samples collected at selected sites along the Wanjei River. The study involved laboratory analysis of water samples collected at four sites including entrance (site 1); upper (site 2); middle (site 3); and lower (site 4) of river Wanjei. Water samples and sampling regimes for the physical parameters (pH, temperature, total dissolved solid (TDS) and electrical conductivity (EC)) were assessed at four different sites in the raining and dry seasons. The results indicate that the highest pH of 8.57 was found at Upper stream during February 2022, while the lowest mean value of 6.70 at same location was exhibited during October 2021. Temperatures across sites and sampling regimes ranged from 26.5˚C (ST-2 during February 2022) to 32.3˚C (ST-1 during December 2021). The TDS ranged from 28.06 (ST-4 during October 2021) to 52.74 (ST-3 and ST-2 during December 2021 and April 2022) sampling regimes. The ECs across sites and sampling regimes ranged from 124.00 µs/cm (ST-4 during July 2022) to 145.20 µs/cm (ST-3 during December 2021) sampling regimes were within the standard level of EC for river (EC = 50 - 1000 µs/cm). Significant (p +), Magnesium (Mg2+), calcium carbonate ( CaCO 3 + ), sulphate ( SO 4 2+ ), chloride (Cl−) and fluoride (Fl−) across sites and sampling regimes are within the standard levels for aquatic organisms, agriculture and drinking. It is recommended that mitigation measures should be implemented to prevent surface water pollution and the implementation of National Water Resources Management and Development Plan for the management of rivers in Sierra Leone.