Levels of Heavy Metals in Refuse Dumpsites of Rafin Zurfi, Bauchi State

Soil sample after removing the overlying waste was collected randomly from the fields at 0 – 20 cm depth and homogenized; another set of sample was collected at the same depth randomly from an uncultivated land that is uncontaminated area, at 100 m away from the dumpsite to serve as control. The samples were air-dried for 72 hours, ground, sieved, digested, filtered and made to volume with water in a 100 cm3 volumetric flasks. The result of heavy metals was obtained using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) technique and was expressed in mg/kg followed by calculation using relative standard deviation. The concentrations of the metals in both dumpsite and control were far below the World Soil Average. The study revealed significant differences in the concentration of many metals in soil unit at the dumpsites and the control. The variations of the heavy metals in the dumpsite were in the following trend: Mn > Cr > Pb > Cd > Zn and for the control Zn > Mn > Cr > Pb > Cd. The variations of the heavy metals in the dumpsite were in the following trend: Mn (27.7050 ± 0.0294)> Cr (2.9250±0.1658)> Pb (1.1300 ± 0.2212)> Cd (0.0950 ± 0.2632)> Zn (0.000)and for the control Zn (9.4600 ± 0.0396)> Mn (6.5400± 0.0749)> Cr (3.4850± 0.1908)> Pb (1.200±0.2500)> Cd (0.0050± 8.000). The values obtained were far below the World Soil Average for agricultural soil. It is therefore suggested that the dump site may be converted to organic manure which will be favorable for plant cultivation and could be beneficial to plants.