Heavy Metals Suitability in Irrigation Water Sources of Bauchi Suburb, Bauchi State, Nigeria

This study determined the concentrations of copper, chromium, lead, nickel, zinc, manganese, iron, cadmium and cobalt in the irrigation water samples collected within Bauchi metropolis using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. Water samples were collected from Federal Secretariat, Murtala Muhammad Way, Ran Road and Fadamar Mada. The concentrations of all the metals varied with locations. The results revealed that concentrations of chromium (0.05 to 0.15 mg/dm3), lead (0.10 to 0.38 mg/dm3), nickel (0.05 to 0.10 mg/dm3) and cobalt (below detectable limit to 0.02 mg/dm3) are within the permissible limits of WHO, 2001, while that of copper (5.48 to 22.32 mg/dm3), zinc (0.90 to 8.02 mg/dm3) and cadmium (0.05 to 0.10 mg/dm3) are above the permissible limits of WHO, 2001. The levels of iron (2.67 to 6.33 mg/dm3) and manganese (0.10 to 0.88 mg/dm3), in water samples collected from Federal Secretariat Road and Ran Road are within the permissible limits, while those from Murtala Muhammad Way and Fadamar Mada are above the maximum limits of WHO. The results obtained in the water samples were subjected to One- Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Least Significant Difference (LSD) test. The differences in the levels of chromium, nickel, manganese, cadmium and cobalt were found to be significantly the same, while the differences in the concentrations of copper, lead, iron and zinc were significantly different (p ≤ 0.05). Based on the high concentrations of copper, zinc, cadmium, manganese and iron in some irrigation water samples found in the different sources of the irrigation water sampled, this means there is contamination in the irrigation water samples which may affect the plant(s) grown in those areas and this may also in turn pose a health threat(s) to the consumers of the agricultural products.