Speciation of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Ni) pollutants and the vulnerability of groundwater resource in Okrika of Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

The chemical mobility of heavy metal pollutants (Cu, Pb, and Ni) is fundamental to the understanding of their environmental accessibility, toxicity and geochemical behaviour to be able to account for the safety and vulnerability of the groundwater resource in the study area. In this work, EDXRF spectrometer was used to determine the total concentration of the metals in the samples and the concentrations left in the residual fractions after extraction. FAAS was used for the chemical analysis of the test sample extracted. The results show that the concentrations of the mobilized fractions are well within the permissive limit, and more of the concentrations of about 60% to 80% of the total concentrations of the pollutants are in the residual phase that keeps the pollutants in their inert state as such posed no threat to the environment and man, and particularly rendering the groundwater resource less vulnerable to the presence of these pollutants. There remobilization is very possible under favourable conditions as therefore, constant monitoring of human activities should be put in place with regular evaluation of pollution status of the environment for the good of all.