Lead and Cadmium Levels in Residential Soils of Lagos and Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

Background.Lead and cadmium are components of paints sold in Nigeria. These heavy metals are associated with adverse neurological, cardiovascular and other human health effects.Objectives.This study assesses the levels of lead and cadmium in topsoil of residential areas in Lagos and Ibadan potentially resulting from painting of buildings.Methods.Samples were pre-treated prior to metal determination using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Metal speciation was determined using modified Tessier sequential extraction. Soil characteristics were determined by standard methods. Soil contamination was assessed using contamination factor, geo-accumulation and pollution load indices. The United States Environmental Protection Agency integrated exposure uptake biokinetic (IEUBK) model was used to estimate and predict children's blood lead levels (BLL).Results.Lead and cadmium concentrations in residential areas in Lagos and Ibadan ranged from 1.56–419 mg/kg and not detected–2.8 mg/kg, respectively. Metal contamination factor and pollution load index were highest at the Lagos low income settlement. Results of IEUBK modelling showed that the Lagos low income settlement had the highest probability density for children between 1–7 years of age with an estimated BLL of >10 μg/dL. This population made up less than 0.01% of those within this age range.Conclusions.Lead and cadmium concentrations in soil around the residential buildings were higher than those in the control sample. Contamination factor and pollution load index showed significant contamination in average and low income settlements. These results suggested that there was accumulation of the metals in the soil, which can persist in the environment. This may pose serious health risks, especially to vulnerable groups such as children.

Ecological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Soil of an Open Dump along Old Ikare Road Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria

“…Although no previous study has been conducted in this study site, however, the results corroborate some previous finding done within and outside Ondo states, Nigeria [5,22,37,38]. Since heavy metal are not easily biodegradable, there is every tendency that the metals will keep increasing in the soil if waste disposed on the site is not properly managed [21] which may later bio-accumulate in the systems of any living organism residing around the study site.…”

“…Since Fe shows the highest potential risk, it implies that the underground water around the study area may as well be affected. This result is similar to [22] and [5]. Igeo result also shows that the soil is extremely high with Fe and Zn.…”

“…Most studies in the field on solid waste management have only focused on municipal or urban waste management and only a few have examined the rural communities. On the other hand, much of the research up to now in the determination of heavy metal determination in soils and sediments have only been limited to urban areas, leaving an existing gap in this field of study [21,22,5]. This may be due to the constant rural urban migration in the global south.…”

Distribution spatiale des éléments traces métalliques dans les sols de la zone aurifère de Komabangou au Niger

“…Les problèmes posés par la dispersion des métaux lourds dans l'environnement suscitent l'intérêt de la communauté scientifique depuis maintenant de nombreuses années (Breuer et al, 2004;Smouni et al, 2010;Tankari Dan-Badjo et al, 2014;Lu et al, 2015;Toure et al, 2016;Adeyi et Babalola, 2017;Oymak et al, 2017;Chouti et al, 2018).…”

Nature Driven Bio‐Piezoelectric/Triboelectric Nanogenerator as Next‐Generation Green Energy Harvester for Smart and Pollution Free Society

“…[53,54] Air pollution is happened during burning of the e-waste to destroy them. [57,58] Further, expensive raw substances such as gold (Au), copper (Cu), platinum (Pt), titanium (Ti) are also present in very small amount in these e-wastes. Further, all these are washed by rain water or any other sources that finally goes to sea and hamper the sea animals' lives too.…”