Determination of physicochemical pollutants in wastewater and some food crops grown along Kakuri Brewery wastewater channels, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

Wastewater samples near Brewery industry and food/crop samples grown along stream were collected from the Kakuri wastewater channel near the Brewery, Kaduna metropolis. The Samples were collected between the periods of January 2017 to March 2017, to ascertain the level of the following parameters; pH, temperature, turbidity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), Biological oxygen demand (BOD5), dissolved oxygen (DO), conductivity, total dissolved solid (TDS), sulphate, nitrate, and phosphate. Moreover, heavy metals (cobalt, chromium, iron, manganese, nickel cadmium and lead, were determined. The levels of pH, conductivity, temperature, nitrate, sulphate, phosphate, TDS, DO, BOD5 and COD were higher than the maximum permissible limits set by Federal Environmental Protection Agencies (FEPA) Nigeria. The level of heavy metals in the wastewater and food samples were higher than limits set by the World Health Organization maximum contaminant levels and that of Food Agricultural Organisation (FAO). The high levels of heavy metals in the food samples suggests that the wastewater used for the irrigation of these food/crop samples within the study area can be tagged as polluted and is not suitable for irrigation of crops. Thus, the wastewater around the Brewery channel is highly polluted. Both Industrial and Domestic wastewater should be properly disposed and recycled.