International Journal of Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Computation

Abstract

Development and Validation of a New Comprehensive Method for Heavy Metal Pollution Assessment in Soil Media

Bello S, Muhammad BG, Simon J and Bature B

This study was carried out to develop and validate a new comprehensive methodology for the assessment of heavy metal pollution in soil environmental media. The models were developed to fill up the gap between the existing contamination factor indices and hazard quotient, so as to avoid discrepancies in their application. The results obtained from analysis of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Ni and Cd) in soil samples collected from Dana steel limited dumpsite upper layer were used for the validation. The existing hazard quotient and contamination factors classify Cu under very high pollution category. The existing Pollution load and the developed hazard load index characterized the dumpsite under considerably polluted category. Discrepancy was observed in the single index classification against Zn, Ni and Cd. This discrepancy was attributed to the possible improper control area selection. The proposed methodology if utilized is capable of relieving the need for control area sampling there by eliminating biasness in the environmental quality deterioration assessment.