Consideration of Contamination Status of Soils within the Vicinity of Automobile Workshops in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria

This research appraised the extent of contamination in soils within the vicinity of automobile workshops in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria. This was with the view of ascertaining the effects of the estimated contamination would have on the quality of soils and terrestrial organisms in the impacted soils. The soils were moderate to slightly acidic with a range from 5.42 ± 0.04 to 6.41 ± 0.13. Zinc contamination in the soils was very severely contaminated (C/P index 0.85), lead had very slight contamination index of 0.11 while copper was moderated polluted with a C/P index value of 2.57. The soils had contamination factor (CF) greater than 6 in all the metals, indicating very high contamination. The degree of contamination was 163.25, implying very high degree of contamination. The pollution load index value of 5.47 obtained for n=3 (metals) showed that the soils had very intense perturbation. Iron being relatively abundant in nature has no C/P value as the lists of standards formulated by Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) excludes iron. Contamination factor obtained for TPH varied from 41.88 to 47.27. The soils were rated to be excessively contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. There was significant variations between the controls and the contaminated soils at levels of P =.05. The impacted soils could have detrimental effects on the quality of soils and terrestrial organisms within and around automobile workshops