Assessment of Heavy Metals from Selected Soil of Auto Mechanic Workshops within Potiskum Town, Yobe State, Nigeria

The concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Pb and Zn in selected auto mechanic workshops along the major highways of Potiskum town, Yobe State were determined with Buck Scientific 210 VGB Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) AVG. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between the metals. The mean concentrations in mg/kg of the metals found in soil samples were in the sequence of Pb (56.186 ± 0.031) > Zn (34.418 ± 0.029) > Cd (21.822 ± 0.029) > Cr (18.947 ± 0.031) > As (2.764 ± 0.027). The concentrations of Cd in soil samples were above the permissible limits set by WHO while As, Cr, Pb and Zn were below the permissible limits set by WHO. The concentrations of heavy metals found in the auto mechanic workshops may be greatly influenced by anthropogenic activities such as dump site areas, metallic wastes, disposal battery wastes, car tyres, and presence of iron benders, organic and inorganic particles used in oil additives, burning of fossil fuels, presence of metal works and indiscriminate dumping of refuse to the soil of auto mechanic workshops might also contribute significantly to the heavy metals pollution. It is concluded that heavy metals concentrations were found and detected. The concentrations of Cd have exceeded the permissible limit while As, Cr, Pb and Zn were below the permissible limit set by WHO. Therefore, preventive measures must be put in place to monitoring and avoid the future contamination of these heavy metals.