EVALUATION OF HEAVY METAL OF MECHANICAL WORKSHOPS IN ASABA AND THE ATTENDANT HEALTH RISK TO HUMANS

Abstract

Soil properties may change due to climate change, but in recent times, the changes occurred as a result of anthropogenic activities such as metal workshop operations. This study was conducted to investigate the presence of heavy metals in the soil of mechanical workshops and how it affects health risk assessment in Nigeria, especially as it concerns Asaba metropolis. five different workshops, Opposite former deputy (OFD), SIO, Federal College (FC)), Officer’s Mess (OM) and Former Deputy (FD) all in Asaba town, Delta State were sampled for the study and analyzed for four heavy metals (Pb, Ar, Cr, Cd,) levels using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). A descriptive cross-sectional survey was carried out to assess the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of people living around the study area. The analytical data was subjected to statistical tests of significance using ANOVA and (P<0.05) to determine whether there was any significant difference between the study sites. It was revealed that the concentrations of (Pb, Cr, As, and Cd) were found to increase slightly higher at one point or the other than control values. However, this study indicated that the mechanic workshop clusters was indeed polluted with these metals (Pb, Cr, As, and Cd) as all the indices of contamination considered indicate significant to considerable degree of contamination therefore constitutes major health risk to the local population. It was recommended that government should provide appropriate places that will serve as automobile village where auto repairs are kept at safe distances from human habitation.