Measures of Harm from Heavy Metal Pollution in Battery Technicians’ Workshop within Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria

Soil pollution with Heavy Metals (HMs) has been of much interests lately and is one of the major issues to be faced globally and requires attention because heavy metals above their normal ranges are extremely threatened to both biotic and abiotic life. It was therefore of interest to conduct study to assess the extent of heavy-metal contamination of soils within battery technicians’ workshops within Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria. A total of twenty-five composite soil samples were collected from six selected battery charger workshop within Ilorin metropolis and analyzed for the presence of heavy metals using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Result reveals significant positive relationship between Mn and Fe (r=0.511**, p<0.001), Mn and Cu (r=0.565**, p<0.001), Fe and Cr (r=0.895**, p<0.001), Fe and Cu (r=0.823**, p<0.001) and between Cr and Cu (r=830**, p<0.001). Result also shows significant negative relationship between Mn and Cr (r=-0.679**, p<0.001), Pb and Cu (r=-0.468*, p<0.05) respectively. The pollution status of heavy metals in soils was evaluated using quantitative indices (pollution index–PI). The result shows that Zn was moderately contaminated while other heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cr and Cu) had very slight contamination (pollution index