Sewage re-use for irrigation in Athi River town Kenya: Its implications onpublic health

Occupational environmental health associated with both industrial and domes tic sewage reuse for food production in Athi River town Kenya has been stud ied. The levels of toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium selenium and ar senic in the soil, roof crops, leaf crops and fruits (or seed) were determi ned using atomic absorption spectoscophy (AAS). In soils the average levels of lead and cadmium were 0.44mg/g and 0.13mg/g respectively. The crops ana lysed were selected as root crops, leaf crops and fruits (or seed) crops. T he levels of lead found in these crops were 0.06 mu g/g, 0.01 mu g/g and fr uit 0.05 mu g/g for root, leaf and fruit crops respectively. Similarly, the cadmium in root, leaf and fruit crops was 0.016 mu g/g, 0.03 mu g/g and 0. 02 mu g/g respectively. Coliform counts were greater than 300 counts per 10 0ml in all samples, which gave a positive indication of the presence of Esc herichia coli. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of the IAWQ. All rights reserved.