Contamination

A general investigation of the groundwater quality of the Benin City Urban Aquifer of Benin Formation for the effects of athropogenic activities shows the following results: lead (Pb) has mean value of 0.044 mg/l from 25 sampled boreholes. Seven of these borehole waters show anomalous Pb values of over 0.050mg/l. For the 25 boreholes, Pb mean value of 0.044mg/l, 0.055mg/l standard deviation and variance of 0.003mg/l are indicative of high Pb concentration compared with 0.05mg/l W.H.O. limit.

This study was carried out in the undergraduate project plot of the department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, University of Benin from March to July 2020, to determine the impact of lead contamination on okra plant. A field experiment was conducted using 4 levels of Pb pollution namely 25, 50, 75, 100 mg/kg and control. Each bag containing 5 kg of air dried sandy loam soil was arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replicates. Five (05) seeds were sown in each bag. All bags were watered regularly. Plants were thinned down to one per bag after a week of emergence.