Assessing Soil Pollution by Heavy Metal of Ugandan Cement Factory

Soil contamination with heavy metals is among the leading health concerns all over the world because of their long-term cumulative effects. This study investigated the concentrations of the selected 3 heavy metals( Pb, Cr, and Cd ) in soils around the Tororo cement factory in Osukuru Subcounty Tororo district in Eastern Uganda. Three soil samples were collected from each side of the cement factory i.e (Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern sides ) at varying distances of (100, 200, and 300) m from the perimeter wall of the cement factory making 12 soil samples in total collected around the cement factory while a total of 3 soil samples were collected from the control site, Chamilula. Known weights of oven-dried soil samples were digested using Nitric acid and Hydrochloric acid. The digests were analyzed for selected heavy metals using a flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The concentrations of metals around the cement factory ranged from 7.80 to 22.80 mg/kg for Cr, 0.76 to 1.49 mg/kg for Cd, and 29.80 to 61.60 mg/kg for Pb while in the control site, Chamilula ranged from 4.70 to 4.80 mg/kg for Cr, 0.10 to 0.11 mg/kg for Cr and 11.59 to 11.70 mg/kg for Pb.