Assessment of Physicochemical and Selected Heavy Metal of Soil around Dana Steel Industry Limited Katsina, Katsina State, Nigeria

Abstract

The physicochemical parameters and levels of selected heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Mn, Zn and Pb) in soil around Dana Steel Rolling Limted Katsina were investigated in this research. The sample area was divided into four units; East, West, North and South and label as A, B, C and D respectively using stratified random sampling method.  The soil was digested using H₂SO₄, HClO₄ and HNO₃ for 15 minutes and filtered. The filtrate was used for the analysis using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The results obtained showed that the sampling area is mildly alkaline with     pH >7.0. Low moisture and organic matter was also observed in the entire sampling site. For the heavy metals contents, the results indicated that the area under investigation was not polluted with respect to heavy metals content. As the metals content investigated were all below the US EPA standard of heavy metals in soils that requires clean up.