The boreholes and well water from Kakuri, Makera were digested using wet
digestion technique and the heavy metal concentration were analysed using
Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). The element analyzed are;
copper, zinc, lead, iron and nickel. The concentrations of heavy metals
analyzed in this research work were all higher than those obtained in the
control site (Mando). This is due to the industrial, human and domestic
activities which are higher in the study sites than the control site. The
concentrations of lead, nickel and iron in both well and bore hole water are
statistically significant at (p<0.05) with exception of zinc and copper which
were not statistically significant at (p<0.05) value. The results obtained in this
study shows that, well water from Kakuri have the highest concentration of
Iron (1.18mg/l), followed by Copper in well water from Kudenden area with
0.72mg/l, then Nickel in well water from Makera with 0.69mg/l and Lead in
well water from Kakuri with 0.21mg/l, except for zinc which was between
permissible limit. The concentrations determined were more than the
maximum admissible and desirable limit when compared with the National
and International organizations like, World Health Organisation, WHO (2008)
and Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality, NSDWQ (2007). The
implications of these high levels of such metals in human health were
highlighted.
Keywords: Well water, bore hole water, heavy metals, Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer, Kaduna Metropolis, Nigeria
