BIOLOAD, ECOTOXICITY AND PHYSICOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF PAINT INDUSTRIES’ EFFLUENT CONTAMINATED SITES IN ABA, ABIA STATE, NIGERIA

The pollution index of paint industry effluent contaminated sites in Aba was evaluated. Soil samples were collected from two locations each of Six(6) respective paint industries, one from the paint-effluent contaminated site(PECS) and the other collected 1.0 km away from the contaminated sites, used as control(US). The bioload level was assayed, physicochemical properties determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometry(AAS) and the Ecotoxicity evaluated using a selected agricultural plant, Cucumber seeds(Cucumis sativus). The bacterial and fungal counts for all the samples were statistically significant across the weeks upto the 24th week (p< 0.05). The fungi isolated from the unpolluted soils include Fusarium sp., Cladosporium sp., Aspergillus spp., Penicilium spp. Trichoderma sp. and Aspergillus fumigates while the bacterial isolates include Pseudomonas putida, Serratia spp., Flavobacterium spp., Micrococcus spp., Bacillus spp. and Klebsiella spp. The bacterial isolates from the polluted soil include Pseudomonas putida, Serratia spp., Flavobacterium spp., Micrococcus spp., Bacillus spp., Klebsiella spp. and Arthrobacter spp. while the fungi from the polluted soil (PECS) include Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Rhodotorula species, Rhizopus species, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Penicillum funiculosum, Geotrichum candidum and Pichia kudriavzevii. The results show near acidic pH values for the polluted sites(PECS) while slight alkalinity was observed in the control(US). The concentrations of zinc, total nitrogen, total organic carbon and electrical conductivity levels had a significant statistical difference across the samples through the bioattenuation period at p< 0.05. The ecotoxicity assay revealed growth of the Cucumber seeds(Cucumis sativus) after 10 days of germination but significantly in the unpolluted soil(US) samples. There was little and/no growth in the polluted samples(PECS) cultivated. Unpolluted soils enhanced germination of the Cucumber seeds (Cucumis sativus) compared to the PECS after 6days of germination. This study shows that paint effluent contaminated sites examined when compared to the pristine soils, contain pathogenic microorganisms that thrive in the contaminated sites and constitute pollution problems that in turn can pose some health challenges to the inhabitants, contain some heavy metals that are toxic at high concentrations which renders most agricultural plants inactive.