Increasing Levels of Metal Pollutants in River Kubanni Zaria, Nigeria

The study examines the increasing levels of concentration of metal pollutants in river Kubanni Zaria, Nigeria. The main sources of data for the study are sediments from four distinctive zones of river Kubanni and materials from previous studies on the river. The samples were collected from the river for a period of eleven months, they were prepared in the laboratory and the Instrumental Nitrogen Activation Analysis (INAA) was adopted in the analysis of the data using Nigeria Research Reactor-1 (NIRR-1). Twenty-nine metal pollutants (Mg, Al, Ca, Ti, V, Mn, Dy, Na, K As, Br, La, Sm, Yb, U, Sc, Cr, Zn, Fe, Co, Rb, Cs, Ba, Eu, Hf, K, Ta, Sb and Tb) are identified in river Kubanni in various levels of concentration. A comparative analysis shows that there is steady increase in the levels of concentration of metal pollutants from 2001 to 2004 and to 2008 with resultant possible hazards on the population that depends on the river as the main source of water for domestic purposes. The reason for this increase in the levels of concentration of metal pollutants in river Kubanni is credited mainly to increase in anthropogenic activities within the catchment area. Finally the study makes useful recommendations on how to minimize the loading of river Kubanni with metal pollutants.