Volumetric Assessment of Suspended Load Sediment of Selected Reach of River Benue in some Parts of Adamawa State

It was discovered that the total suspended load sediment passing a reach of river Benue at Jimeta Bridge per twenty second (20sec) was 300g, for one hour at 300g/20sec =900 X 60 mins= 54,000g or 5.4kg, for one day is 1296000kg or 129.6kg, for seven days is 9072000g or 907.2 kg and so on. Total Discharge in the dry season in the month of March on 12th, 2018 was 121.1084m3s; total area was 373.20m2, and mean velocity was 0.2809m /s-1. In the rainy season in the month of July on 27th, 2018, the total runoff was 283.67593m3s2, mean velocity was 0.660741m/sec and total area was 429.33m2. The discharge conducted on 27 July, 2018 indicated that, the erosion was higher than the discharge conducted on 12 March, 2018 due to high stream flow at higher velocity. It could be deduced that when the velocity of stream flow reduces, deposition of sedimentation increases. The Froude number of the discharge at 0.2809ms-2 velocity was 0.72284, the turbulence of the river was tranquil (sub-critical) because the Froude number was less than one, Fr (>1). That means the physical appearance of the flowing water indicated less turbid. The stream power was < 1 Jm-2s-1 and > 12,000 Jm-2s-1, it was not sufficient to move boulder materials in diameters but suspended load could pass through. The sampling procedure used was area sampling technique through equal increment of width, the same transit rate for all verticals and the same bill along the same cross-section. The indirect vertical integration method was used, where equal increment of with using the same transit rate for all verticals and the same bill along the entire cross-section was adopted. Filtration method was done by removing twenty percent (20%) of each sample and filtered it on filtering paper. After filtration, the sediment on the filtering paper was weighed. Complete instrument for discharge measurement (SK 100 suspended Derrick, sinker weight, revolution counter, Bray Stock, fish tail and tools), Inventory checklist, Sample ID forms (sampling information and identification) and labels, G. P.S., Camera, Protective clothing, Tools (hammer, spanner, axe, knife, etc.), First aid kit, Boat, distilled water, improvised suspended load sampler and Personnel were used. Therefore, people should stop drinking the water directly from the river, government should dig boreholes for the villages, and awareness about the above implications should be done.