Determination of heavy metals concentration in drinking water of Potiskum Metropolitan, North Eastern, Nigeria

Abstract

The mean concentrations of heavy metals (HMs) such as Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Zinc (Zn), and Iron (Fe) in drinking water of Potiskum metropolitan were investigated. The water samples were collected from the following locations; ARK, PMP, MMD, ABB, NHT, FCE, and JGW. The sample's physic-chemical parameters such as pH, Temperature, and Conductivity were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS). The pH result for the three sample locations ABB (9.6), PMP (9.2), and JGW (8.8) was recorded and found to be above the recommended value set by Standard Organization of Nigerian (SON). Meanwhile, there Conductivities values were reported to be below the limit value (1ms/cm) set by SON. The results obtained the highest mean concentration of cadmium was recorded in FCE (0.004±0.01 ppm) and observed above the recommended value set by WHO(0.003ppm), the highest mean concentration of lead was found in FCE (0.090±0.012 ppm) and all mean concentrations of lead were recorded above the recommended values set by WHO(0.01ppm) and SON(0.01ppm), the highest concentration of zinc was recorded in JGW (0.024±0.026 ppm) and all sampling points have recorded the concentrations of zinc below the recommended value set by WHO(5.0ppm) and SON(3.0ppm). The highest mean concentration of iron was recorded in ARK (0.310±0.063 ppm) and all sampling points have recorded the concentrations of iron below the recommended value set by SON (0.3ppm) except ARK (recorded above).