Abstract:
Uncontrolled disposal of solid waste causes different adverse ecological impacts. One of the serious problems is enrichment of heavy metals to the nearest environment. The present study is an attempt to study the heavy metals (Pb, Ni, Cd and Cr) contents present in fine fraction of municipal solid waste at Bahir Dar solid waste dumping sites (Sebate Amit). Soil samples were taken in triangular method and digested by wet digestion method then subjected to Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) for heavy metal concentration analysis. The results of ICP-OES reveal that. Mean concentrations (mg kg-1) of heavy metals in the dump site were 465.37±30.17, 232.17±76.19, 46.27±18.21, and 15.4±14.09 for Cr, Pb, Ni, and Cd respectively. All the heavy metal concentrations were found to be below the maximum acceptable levels set by United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) regulations. But above the maximum acceptable levels set by WHO. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) p<0.05 (95% confidence level) showed a significant difference in the mean concentration of the metals( Pb, Ni, Cd and Cr) among the three sampling points which could be attributed to the difference in concentration of heavy metals in solid waste in the three sampling points in dumping site.
Key words: municipal solid waste, heavy metals, ICP-OES