Abstract

The study investigated twenty-two particulate dust samples from ten different departments and a control site at Funtua textile limited, Katsina, Nigeria for total concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Pbusing Atomic Absorption spectrometry. The physicochemical parameters such as pH, Electrical conductivity (EC (µScm-1), ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N (%), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N (%), organic matter (OM (%) and chloride (Cl-(mg/kg) contents were also investigated in the dust particulate samples using standard analytical methods. The levels of the analysed parameters in the samples were compared with those of world health organization (WHO) in order to draw a meaningful conclusion. The mean concentrations of heavy metals in the particulates dust were in the ranges of; Cd: 0.02 ± 0.00 (S1& O1) to 0.15 ± 0.17 (E1), Cr: BDL (W2) to 174.30 ± 9.79 (E1), Cu: 0.18 ± 0.08 (O1) to 356.68 ± 33.57 (E1), Ni: 0.09 ± 0.04 (O1) to 3.44 ± 0.12 (E1) and Pb: 0.14 ± 0.04 (S2) to 5.09 ± 0.06 (W2) mgkg-1, respectively. The ranges of 5.235 ±0.021(O2) to 4.750±0.354(E2), BDL to 0.032 ±0.004 (S1), BDL (W2) to 0.011 ± 0.001 (G, S1), 0.640 ± 0.028 (C) to 89.240 ± 1.131 (W2) and 0.30 ±0.001 (O1) to 12.70±0.424 mg/kg (E2) pH, EC (µScm-1), NH4-N (%), NO3-N (%),OM (%) and Cl– (mg/kg), respectively. The levels of the analysed metals in the dust particulate samples within the industry were higher than those in the control site and those of the European commission (2005) tolerable limit which clearly shows that the industry contributes immensely in polluting the immediate environment.