Assessment of Heavy Metals Concentrations in River Totowu: Implication for Environmental Health and Management

Abstract

Heavy metals are metallic elements that have relatively high densities, atomic weights or atomic numbers. The rapid growth of industrialization and population is a leading cause of heavy metal pollution. In the present study, water, sediment and fish from Totowu River located at Ado-odo, Otta in Ogun State were analysed for concentration of five major heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Cd, Co and Pb) using Atomic Absorption spectroscopy (AAS). 0.016-0.030 mg/L, 0.00-0.123 mg/L and 0.078-0.269 mg/L for Cu, Cr and Pb were obtained respectively for water. Sediments gave concentrations of 0.057-0.137 mg/L, 0.00-0.191 mg/L and 0.102-0.578 mg/L for Cu, Cr and Pb respectively. The result for heavy metals analysis of fish gave concentrations of 0.025-0.103 mg/L, 0.00-0.189 mg/L and 0.111-0.602 mg/L for Cu, Cr and Pb respectively. Cadmium and Cobalt were not detected in all the samples. The obtained results showed that average value of Pb were high in sequence from Fish > sediment > water in the study area and are higher than allowed permissible concentration of WHO. The result confirms that Totowu River is contaminated and could be dangerous for human health. Regular monitoring and effective clean-up are therefore recommended.