Quality Of Soil And Groundwater In Automobile Workshops In Akinyele Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Heavy metal contamination from activities in automobile workshops is of public health

concern. These heavy metals have capacity to remain in the environment over time. Several

studies have been conducted on industrial water pollution but limited investigations have

been carried out on water and soil quality around automobile workshops. This study

therefore, was designed to assess the quality of soil and groundwater in automobile

workshops in Akinyele Local Government Area (ALGA).

A Simple random sampling technique was employed to select three of six zones of

automobile workshops in ALGA: Alphonso, Temidire and Ojoo with one residential area

(Moniya - control site). Eight automobile workshops were selected from each zone based on:

absence of other industries and presence of dug wells. Water samples were collected from

dug well (0-50 m) around the workshops. Physico-chemical parameters (Total Dissolved

Solids (TDS), Electrical conductivity, pH and Oil and grease) and heavy metals (Copper

(Cu), Chromium (Cr) Cadmium (Cd) and Lead (Pb)) were determined using standard

methods. Grab samples of top and sub soils were collected from the three locations and

analysed. Values obtained were compared with WHO standards for potable water quality and

United Kingdom Permissible Limits for soil quality. Data were analysed using descriptive

statistics and ANOVA at p