All bodies of flowing water in Imo State, are snaking back to the Atlantic Ocean, either through Akwa Ibom or Rivers State.
As they snake through the villages on their path, they are given different names.
The most popular ones in Imo State are; Imo, Onumurukwa or Oramiriukwa, Okatankwo, Nworie, Otamiri Njaba river, Awbana and Orashi. The Imo River flows about 240 kilometers into the Atlantic Ocean. On its way, In Akwa Ibom State, the river is known as Imoh River, that is, Inyang Imoh, which translates to River of Wealth (Ibibio: Inyangmeans River or Ocean, and Imoh means Wealth) Imo’s tributary rivers are the Otamiri and Onumurukwa-Oramirukwa.
Otamiri, runs south from Egbu past Owerri and through Nekede, Ihiagwa, Eziobodo, Olokwu Umuisi, Mgbirichi and Umuagwo to Ozuzu in Etche, in the Rivers State, from where it flows to the Atlantic.
Nworie: passes through Owerri and drains into the Otamiri River at Nekede. From here she flows to Rivers State and empty into the Atlantic Ocean.
Onumurukwa: one of the tributaries of Imo, runs approximately a 14.0km course from its headwaters in Abba Isu (Nwangele LGA) and discharge into Otamiri River.
According to Dr.Okorie P.U at 19th Annual Conference of the Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON) “Based on the fish catches of local fishermen using a variety of fishing gear in a sampling station in Emekuku (Owerri LGA), a total of 17 families of fish consisting of 27 species were identified in the river.”
