Abstract

Soil samples from four public waste dump sites (three samples from each location at 10 m interval) and plant sample (root and leave) from Igbaletere dump site were analyzed for heavy metals such as Cu, Mn, Fe, Cr, Pb, Co, Zn and Ni. On the average, high concentrations of Cu, Mn, Fe, Pb, and Zn were found in the soil samples collected at the centre of the dump sites that is, 231.55, 292.03, 158.55 and 205.40 mg/g respectively. The lower concentration was obtained in the soil samples taken at distance 20 m away from the centre of dumpsites, Mn 64.20, Fe 110.65, Pb 213.00 and Zn 66.86 mg/g respectively. The upland location of these refuse dump sites to the adjoining wells and the potential use of the dump soil for compost could cause environmental hazard. In the plant sample, concentration of Fe (341.94 mg/g) was found to be the highest in the root, while concentrations of Mn (109.69 mg/g) the highest in the leaf. The concentration of heavy metals in the roots of plant from Igbaletere dump site was correlated with the concentration of heavy metals in the soil samples from the dump site. The value of 0.9985 correlations, 0.051 alienation and 94.49% incidence of forecasting established a relationship between the plant and the soil of Igbaletere dump site.

Key words: Refuse, dumpsite, heavy metals, plants.