Leachate Pollution of Cocoyam and Pawpaw Crops Grown Around Anaekie Obiakor Illegal Dumpsite, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria

Leachate pollution of Aneakie Obiakor illegal dumpsite, Awka was studied. Leachate and plant samples (cassava and pawpaw) were collected from the waste dumpsite and control site during wet season, and analysed for level of concentration of 10 heavy metals; Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni, Pb, As, Hg, Cr, Fe using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric (AAS). The result was compared with the control and WHO/FAO standard. It was observed that all the heavy metals present in the plants were within WHO/FAO safe limit with the exception of Pb, Hg, As and Cd. The study revealed that the presence of leachate on agricultural soil results in heavy metal accumulation in soils and bioaccumulation in plants. The work therefore, recommended that the agricultural farmland on which this illegal waste dumping is going on should be recover by stopping the illegal waste dumping and using bioremediation and phytoremediation to extract the already accumulating pollutant in the soil.