Levels of some heavy metals contamination of street dust in the industrial and high traffic density areas of Jos Metropolis
Paper Details
Levels of some heavy metals contamination of street dust in the industrial and high traffic density areas of Jos Metropolis
Abstract
This study determined the levels of some heavy metals in street dust collected over the industrial and high traffic density areas of Jos Metropolis. The dust samples were collected by direct gravity deposition using high volume air sampler in January, 2010 and analyzed for the levels of nickel, chromium, cobalt, copper, zinc, iron, manganese, lead and tin using UNICAM (969) Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The results revealed wide range of concentrations of the heavy metals; reflecting high level of anthropogenic activities which have significantly contributed to the increasing load of heavy metals in the atmosphere. In the industrial area, iron recorded the highest mean concentration of 21.18ppm while copper recorded the lowest mean level (0.44ppm). Similar results in the high traffic density area showed that iron also recorded the highest mean level (21.66ppm) but nickel recorded the lowest mean concentration of 0.43ppm. The metal contents of the street dust in both the industrial and high traffic density areas showed strong positive correlations. The contamination factors of the heavy metals showed very high environmental contamination with cobalt (122.9 and 90.5) followed by lead (70.0 and 48.4) and chromium (13.6 and 32.4) in the industrial and high traffic density areas respectively. Apart from nickel levels, the concentrations of the heavy metals recorded in this study exceeded the ambient air permissible limits set by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Furthermore, the pollution load indices of the heavy metals showed potential deterioration of site quality in the study areas. Therefore adequate sensitization and control measures should be instituted by the Ministry of Environment to limit the emission of heavy metal pollutants into air.
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