Is It Safe to Drink Mine Water? A Human Health Risk Assessment of (Lead) Pb Levels in Water Collected from Abandoned Mines in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Lead (Pb) levels were determined in 40 samples of water collected from four abandoned mines scattered across the three senatorial zones of Ebonyi State. The result revealed that Pb concentration in the water samples collected from location 1 varied from 5.1 mg/l to 9.4 mg/l, in location 2, Pb concentration ranged from 2.9 mg/l to 8.0 mg/l. Water samples from location 3 had Pb concentration in the range of 0.9 mg/l to 4.0 mg/l whilst Pb concentration in water samples from location 4 varied from 5.0 mg/l to 9.2 mg/l. These results were compared with the World Health Organisation (WHO), guideline for Pb in drinking-water (0.01 mg/l) and it was observed that even the lowest Pb concentration exceeded the WHO guideline value significantly (200 times in excess). Lead concentrations in excess of WHO guideline could cause Pb poisoning especially in children and pregnant women