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Sabore field is characterised by a high level of artisan activities that contributes to water pollution by heavy metals; these heavy metals when present in drinking water can be deleterious to human health. Consequently, in 2018 we investigated the seasonal variations of the water samples from the Sabore vicinity to determine its suitability for drinking. Six metals (Mn, Cu, Cd, Zn, Ni, Pb) were studied, the health risk assessment was investigated using Hazard Index (HI), Hazard Quotient (HQ) and Cancer Risk (CR). The results showed that water from this locality have HI values > 1, Pb and Cd were top contributors to non-carcinogenic risk while Ni and Cd caused concern for carcinogenic health risk making it unsuitable for consumption. The seasonal spread of the metals shows that Mn varied from 148 to 976 µg/L; Cu from 923 to 1676 µg/L; Cd from 1.167 to 22.5 µg/L; Zn from 63 to 118 µg/L, Ni from 37 to 95 µg/L and Pb from 128 to 185 µg/L in the rainy season. For the dry season, Mn shows a spread of 1442–1802 µg/L; 344–776 µg/L for Cu; 57–82 µg/L for Cd; 48–187 µg/L for Zn; 147–242 µg/L for Ni and 79–256 µg/L for Pb. The increased concentration of some metals during the dry seasons could be attributed to the increased human activities around the field, increased evaporation rate, absence of rainfall and runoff water. The heavy metal content of water from some of the sites exceeded the stipulated permissible limits and poses serious health risk to its consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polysulphone/clay ion-exchange membranes were prepared by the phase inversion method using N-methyl-2 pyrrolidone as solvent. The aims of this work were to synthesize and investigate the effect of different natural clays from different locations on the morphology, hydrophilicity, structure, swellability, metal extraction from water and ion-exchange capacity (IEC) of the membranes prepared. The characterization techniques used were scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffractometry, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy and contact angle. The clays from locations 1 (N4) and 2 (N6) had a good dispersion in the polysulphone matrix and exhibited high IEC, swellability and hydrophilicity. The 2θof the polysulphone/clay membranes compared to polysulphone membrane was lower, indicating an increase in thed-spacing between layers of the clays and also intercalation of clay layer silicates in the polymer matrix. Extraction/adsorption of Pb2+by all the tested membranes was faster (10 min) compared to Cu2+, and it was approximately 100%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]