Ambient air ammonia (NH3) concentration in two solid waste dump sites in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

This work monitored the level of ammonia in the ambient air of two major solid waste dump sites in Abakaliki urban, Ebonyi State, in the morning for a period of a month on the onset of wet season, using portable monitor based on electrochemical sensor. The result showed that site 1 had a relatively higher mean ammonia level of 0.152 ±0.003ppm as against 0.09 ± 0.002ppm for site 2 while the corresponding minimum levels were 0.027 ±0.001ppm and 0.03 ± 0.001ppm for site 1 and 2 respectively. The ammonia levels peak on weekends (Friday to Sunday) and the beginning of the week day (Monday). The one-way Analysis of variance of mean difference in NH₃ concentration in the two sites monitored revealed a no statistical significant difference in the mean (p<0.05). There is no national/ international threshold limit for ammonia but the concentrations of ammonia obtained in this study is within the values obtained in some studies in Asian and European cities reported in literature.

Keywords: Abakaliki, Ambient Air, Ammonia, Dump Sites, Portable Monitor