EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENTS ON SOIL RESOURCE IN CHALLAWA INDUSTRIAL AREA, KANO, NIGERIA

The study was aimed at determining the effects of industrial effluents on the soil environment of Challawa industrial area, Kano State Nigeria. Profile pit soils were sampled in the areas affected by industrial effluents and the adjacent control area. Sampled soils were carried to the laboratories for physical (sand, silt and clay) and chemical (pH, OC, AP, Ca, Mg, K, Na, N, ECEC) properties determinations. The result of the analysis showed that different horizons of the affected pits had less sand than what was obtained at the unaffected pit (average 615.78 and 670 respectively), Apart from pH, nitrogen, available phosphorus content of the soils that were lower at the horizons from the affected area of the industrial site( on the average, pH 6.45; N- 0.20 g/kg; AP- 3.97 mg/kg), all other chemical properties (exchangeable bases like Ca (1.15 cmol/kg), Mg (0.4 cmol/kg) and Na (0.23 cmol/kg) were lower at the horizons of the unaffected profile pits. Other physical and chemical properties of the soils collected like the pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen and available phosphorus, Ca, Mg, K and Na were low in some pits and in some pits had higher concentration at the affected area. The revelation from the analysis showed that the top and upper horizons of the soil at the industrial site has been seriously tampered with by industrial effluents and inhabitants should be advised to plant mostly shallow rooted crops and cultivate on land farther away from the effluent sludge.