Assessment of public awareness of polychlorinated biphenyls in the Sunyani Municipality;measurement of physicochemical parameters and heavy metals in transformer oil and soils around the vicinities of transformers in the municipality

The project assessed the awareness of the general public in Sunyani on the impact of PCBs on both humans and the environment. The administration of questionnaires to respondents was used in the assessment and statistical package for social scientists (SPSS version 13.5) was used in the analysis of the results obtained from the interviews conducted. Of the 60 respondents (categorized into fifteen occupations) interviewed none had heard of PCBs and its effect on humans and tke environment. Details of the educational levels attained by the respondents are as follows: Primary division - 5 respondents; Middle/JSS - 11; Secondary/SSS - 15; Tertiary (polytechnic, university and others) - 29. Physicochemical parameters of transformer oils and soils around the vicinities of transformers and "control" soil samples away from the transformers were measured. pH, by « using the pH meter, moisture content of the soils by the gravimetric method, total organic carbon of the soils by the Walkley Black method and density of transformer oils by using the specific gravity bottle. Levels of some heavy metals (cadmium, iron, lead and zinc) in transformer oils were determined. They were also determined in the soils around the vicinities of transformers were determined selected for the project and also in "control" soil samples. Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer was used for the analysis. The pHs for the soils were found to be between 7.00 at Electoral Commission and 8,28 at Catering whiles those for the oils were between 5.65 and 6.68. Moisture content for all the soils were found to lie between 11.95% at VRA and 21.57% at Catering. Soil organic matter ranged from 5.2% at Ridge to 13.8% at Nimpong. The transformer oil densities also ranged from 0.83g/cm3 at Electoral commission and Catering to 0.860g/cm3 at Ridge. Measurement of heavy metals recorded significant values for the soil samples. For iron and zinc a possible correlation could be established between the soils and transformer oils predicting a possible leakage of the oil accounting for higher levels of iron and zinc in the soils. However for lead and cadmium, concentration levels in the transformer oils wertf trace and a possible leakage could not have accounted for their quite significant levels. A possible cause may come from natural sources such as soils and dusts. Soils recorded higher levels of iron (from 66ppm to 734.5ppm) than other metals. This is followed by zinc (16.5-117.5ppm). Trace amounts of lead was recorded in Barracks, Abesim and Oti Yeboah. Other levels of lead also ranged from 5ppm to 120ppm. Cadmium recorded trace amounts in Electoral commission, Ridge, Estate, Abesim and catering. Other levels ranged from 1.5ppm to 14.0ppm. Transformer oil recorded trace amounts for lead and cadmium but recorded values ranging from 0.83ppm to 3.59ppm for iron and 0.02 to O.llppm for zinc metals respectively. Zinc recorded trace amounts in Chiraa, VRA, Abesim, Estate and Catering. The results obtained from the measurement of parameters and heavy metals indicated the vicinities of transformers are hot spots and hence further research especially PCB analysis should be undertaken.

Source: KNUST