Determination of some heavy metals in borehole and well water from selected industrial areas of Kaduna metropolis

Abstract

The boreholes and well water from Kakuri, Makera were digested using wet digestion technique and the heavy metal concentration were analysed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). The element analyzed are; copper, zinc, lead, iron and nickel. The concentrations of heavy metals analyzed in this research work were all higher than those obtained in the control site (Mando). This is due to the industrial, human and domestic activities which are higher in the study sites than the control site. The concentrations of lead, nickel and iron in both well and bore hole water are statistically significant at (p<0.05) with exception of zinc and copper which were not statistically significant at (p<0.05) value. The results obtained in this study shows that, well water from Kakuri have the highest concentration of Iron (1.18mg/l), followed by Copper in well water from Kudenden area with 0.72mg/l, then Nickel in well water from Makera with 0.69mg/l and Lead in well water from Kakuri with 0.21mg/l, except for zinc which was between permissible limit. The concentrations determined were more than the maximum admissible and desirable limit when compared with the National and International organizations like, World Health Organisation, WHO (2008) and Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality, NSDWQ (2007). The implications of these high levels of such metals in human health were highlighted.