ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATION IN SOIL, WATER AND VEGETABLES IN E-WASTE DUMPSITE

Abstract

E-waste is regarded as one of the fastest-growing solid waste streams in the world, posing a 3–5% annual growth rate and it is expected to continue to increase. Developing countries particularly African countries are susceptible to increase in the generation of local e-waste. There is need to investigate soil, water and plants toxicity, this is critical in environmental monitoring and control, and in the design of health related policy or framework. Soil, water and plant samples were randomly collected from a major e-waste dumpsite in the study area, processed and analyzed for heavy metals. The result of the study indicates that Aluminum and Chromium had the maximum value for soil contamination; this is followed by iron and lead. Aluminum and Zinc had the maximum value for water contamination, and ranged between 130.30 to 393.55 mg/L, and 70.11 to 75.38 mg/L. The concentration of the heavy metals on the plants indicates that water melon had the maximum concentration of 1.16 mg/kg, 0.95 mg/kg, and 0.81 mg/kg of chromium, iron, and lead concentrations. Generally, it is observed that heavy metal concentrations are higher in water melon than other plants. Health policy to safe guard consumers will be appropriate measures.

Keywords: E-waste, E-Waste Dumpsite, Heavy metal contamination, Soil, Vegetables, Water