Geochemical assessment and pollution evaluation of stream sediments’ quality impacted by industrial activities at Suame Magazine area, Kumasi, Ghana.

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution in industrial and residential areas in cities has become a salient environmental issue in Ghana. However, high-quality and environmental investigations of stream sediments are essential for the evaluation of contamination and subsequent decision-making processes. The study was undertaken to identify possible heavy metals and their concentrations in stream sediments from Suame Magazine and its environs in Kumasi, Ghana. Soil samples were analysed for vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), lead (Pb), tin (Sn), strontium (Sr), zirconium (Zr), barium (Ba), gallium (Ga), yttrium (Y), titanium (Ti), manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe) using a polarized energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (PED-XRF) stream sampling, elemental analyses of heavy metals and state of pollution evaluation using contamination factor (CF), enrichment factor (EF) and geo-accumulation index (Igeo), while pollution load index (PLI) for the north and south sides of the cluster and source provenance of the trace elements were undertaken. The results showed that elements such as Cr, Zn, As, Pb, Sn and Zr were enriched by anthropogenic activities and exceeded the maximum allowable limits, while V, Ni, Cu, Ba, Y, Mn, Sr, Ti, Co, Fe and Ga were not. The results also showed that the north side of the study area was relatively more polluted in trace elements than the south indicative of contaminated stream sediments. The likely pathways from the Suame Magazine and the contaminated stream sediments to sensitive receptors like humans, plants, animals and the environment need to be sequestered and isolated. In addition, government like the Municipal Health Directorate must be informed of this study so that it will affect public and epidemiological studies, interventions and policy.