In arriving at the decision contained in its latest report on Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that a study of water pollution in Onitsha, found high levels of arsenic, mercury, lead, copper and iron in its water. It also found more than 100 petrol stations in the city selling low-quality fuel, with attendant fuel spills and many rubbish dumps in the state. It noted that the city’s metal industries, private hospitals, workshops and residents were heavy polluters, emitting chemical, hospital and household waste and sewage. An environmentalist, Chike Okoronkwo, agreed that Onitsha could be experiencing the problem “because most industries there run on generating plants, which generate a great deal of carbon monoxide. There is also so much congestion in the city, with even household waste littering everywhere. The worst is the fact that residents have no idea of how to dispose and manage the refuse they generate.”
