Assessment and Distribution of Metal Pollutants in Fadama Soils along River Ngadda and Alau Dam in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria | Chapter 09 | Advances in Applied Science and Technology Vol. 1
Elemental metal pollutants
concentration levels and their distribution in soils obtained from farmlands
along the bank of river Ngadda and Alau dam in Maiduguri, BornoState, and
North-East of Nigeria is presented. The study
was aimed at
determining the levels
of contamination of
soils with metal pollutants used for fadama farming
along the bank of river Ngadda and Alau dam with the objectives of assessing
the contamination levels of the soils with metal pollutants from the various
farmlands at the various sampled sites of study, and the distribution of the
various metal pollutant in the various sampled sites. Soil samples were
collected from thirteen different sites on the farmlands along the bank of the
river and the dam.
The samples were analyzed using Instrumental Neutron
Activation Analysis (INAA) and the result obtained indicate that the
concentration level of some of the elements determined were above maximum
allowable concentration (MAC) value while some below the (MAC) values for example
the concentration range for Cr was (16 ± 2 –47 ±3) ppm, Sb was (0.18 ± 0.04
–14.2 ± 7) ppm, Zn was (21.8 ± 4 –145 ± 7) ppm and the maximum values for these
ranges exceed the (MAC) value recommended for Agricultural soils while the
concentration ranges for As was (0.46 ± 0.12 –1.0 ± 0.2)ppm, Co was (1.6 ± 0.3
–5.3 ± 0.4) ppm, Vn was (14.6 ± 2.32 –29 ± 2) ppm with the maximum value for
these ranges being below the MAC values given by some countries. The elements
obtained from samples collected from different study areas along the bank of
river Ngadda and Alau dam were analyzed
for similarity distribution of
the study area
using mathematical tool
of cluster analysis technique
employing hierarchical procedure and using WARD’s method. The result obtained
produce a dendrogram consisting of two clusters comprising of six and seven
sites with percentage similarity of 96.5% and 90.8% respectively with one site
as an outlier. It is recommended that since some of
the trace metals
namely Cr, Sb,
and Zn assessed
in the fadama
soils indicates concentrations
above the MAC values, they can posed negative health implications to consumers
of food which were cultivated on soils from the study area, therefore there is
the need to condition the soils before using it
for farming so as to make it suitable for food crop farming.
From the results obtained from this and presented, it can be clearly
observed that the concentrations of some of the toxic trace
elements analyzed and
determined in this
research were found
to be above
the MAC values given by some
countries for soils to be used for agricultural purposes while others were
within the range of the MAC values and some were below the limit given by some
countries. However, even for soil samples that were having concentration below
the MAC values since the soils were used for agricultural purposes it will be
of great importance that such studies and investigations on such soils be
carried out periodically so as to ascertain and monitor the levels of this
metal toxicants and where the level of metal pollutants were above the MAC
values there is the need to conditioned the soils so as to remedy the
concentration of the pollutants before using the soils for agricultural
purposes since the plants may
absorb these metal
toxicants and it
will accumulate above
threshold level thereby causing negative effect on the use of
the soils.
Biography of author(s)
Paul Hena Bukar
Nigerian Institute of
Leather and Science Technology, Zaria, Nigeria.
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