Effects of Flood on Environmental Quality in Ringim, Jigawa State, Northern Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the level of flood risk and its effects on environmental quality in Ringim Local Government Area. Dabi, Kyarama, Ringim, Sintilmawa and Yandutse were purposively selected being the most flood prone in which 400 questionnaires were administered. Observation method was also adopted in the study. Flood risk map was developed through simulation method using GIS spatial analyst. Descriptive statistics particularly percentage was employed in SPSS software. Result indicated that flood used to occur every year according to 85.5% of the respondent. The worst scenarios of flood in the area occurred in 2012, 2015 and 2018 according to 384, 287 and 400 respondents respectively. Simulation result categorised the area into high risk 354.1km2
(33.1%), medium risk 507.4km2 (48.0%) and low risk 195.5 km2 (18.5%). Larger part of the respondents (93%) indicated that flood disaster has serious negative effects on environmental quality in the area. Over 50% of the respondents in the whole areas indicated that the major form of land damage due to flooding is through erosion and land degradation. In all the areas flood effect on quality of the water is less. Majority of the respondent in the areas (63.75%) indicated that effect of flooding on vegetation is less to moderate. Most of the areas studied are affected by moderate to high risk of flooding that causes serious damage to environmental resources
such as land, water and vegetation which need to be restored through flood control and mitigation strategies for effective environmental quality.