STUDIES ON THE STATUS OF AIR POLLUTION LEVEL FROM DUMPSITES IN JIMETA, ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA
The occurrence of unwanted items discarded on dumpsites has made Jimeta metropolis one of the dirtiest cities in Nigeria. A study on the status of air pollution from those dumpsites as a result of human activities in the 11 wards of Yola North local government was undertaken among other objectives to elucidate on concentration levels of air pollutants and their implications on the health of environment and humans. An experiment was conducted during the raining season from August to October, 2018 where gaseous pollutants for selected emission concentration levels of CO, CO2, NO2 and SO2 were obtained from field measurements by the use of a portable air monitoring device; Crowcon (Tetra 3). Readings were obtained after instrument calibration, field calibration and laboratory calibration tests. The results showed that the concentration levels of pollutants: CO, NO2, and SO2 were found to range between 0.013-0.093 ppm and 32.0-37.0 ppm for Rumde; 0.015- 23.0 ppm for Demsawo. The results of other wards like Limawa, Gwadabawa, Karewa and Alkalawa had low values of CO, NO2 and SO2 emission concentrations. This could be likely due to human population in those areas is low hence less domestic activities resulting in lower levels of air pollutants. Bivariate Pearson’s correlation coefficients (r) between traffic and pollutant concentrations were found to be r = 0.758; r = 0.828; r = 0.766 for CO, NO2, and SO2. Available results also showed that the concentrations of pollutants (CO, NO2 and SO2) were higher in the evening and morning periods but relatively lower during afternoon period. More studies on the movement of these pollutants from dumpsites into the biosphere have been recommended.
Authors : Burmamu, B. R. and Hong, A. H.
Category : Open Access Volume (Issue) : 7(1) Date Uploaded : 22nd June 2021