부산대학교 도서관

The article investigates the impact of effluents from a car battery manufacturing plant in Nnewi, Nigeria, on water, soil, and food qualities. The authors analyzed heavy metals mercury, arsenic, lead (Pb), cadmium and nickel in tap and cassava waters, soil, dried cassava tuber, and edible fruit samples from the company, using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The study found soil Pb levels to be very high, an observation which is similar to the earlier finding. This reflects the tendency of the metal to accumulate in the multitude of pollution sites along the food chain. Soil samples were collected from sites A and B, and it was found that these were effluent deposition sites. This could largely account for the high levels of Pb and other metals found in these sampling sites, and could indicate that there is indiscriminate dumping of effluents both within and outside the factory yard. Illegal discharge of effluents into natural waters, municipal sewage systems, and adjoining farmlands in Nigeria should be checked. The environmental pollution of soils directly influences human health because of the ease of transference of the pollutants from soil to consumers.