Assessment of PM2.5 Around Rock Quarrying Sites and Residential Communities of Iyuku and Ikpeshi, Estako West, Akoko Edo, Edo State
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8009862Abstract
PM2.5 is one of the major air pollutants in our environment today. PM2.5 refers to particles with aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 micrometer. The aim of the study was to assess the levels of PM2.5 generated around selected quarries and residential areas in Iyuku and Ikpeshi.Portable hand held monitor was used to detect the concentration of PM2.5 in four main quarry sites (Atmas quarry, Freedom quarry, Mothercat quarry, Abandoned Quarry), two operating on hard rocks and the other two operates on soft rocks, Remote path, one residential community in Iyuku, one Control location and one community in Ikpeshi. The obtained data were statistically analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation and two way ANOVA. The result revealed that the mean value of PM2.5 ranged from 21.40 – 99.80 µg/m3, during Wet season and 99.80 – 263.20 µg/m3 in Dry. Temperature ranged from 31.74 – 33.72 during wet season and 35.62-38.40 µg/m3 in Dry season season across sampling locations. The wind speed ranged from 0.96 – 1.60 µg/m3 in wet season and from 1.76-2.42 µg/m3 in the dry season. The results showed that the mean values of PM2.5 obtained around the vicinity of soft rocks in both wet and dry seasons were higher than those of the hard rocks. Also, the mean PM2.5 concentration across the sampling points and seasons exceeded USEPA limit (35 µg/m3) with the exception of that of Control location (21µg/m3). Further findings revealed a significant difference in the spatial and seasonal distribution of PM2.5 concentration obtained from the areas of study with the type of rocks been crushed (P<0.05). It was observed that the mean Value of PM2.5 obtained within marble quarries (RS ) for both wet and dry season were higher than the mean value of PM2.5 obtained around granite quarries (RH ).
