green. Studies show that their wells were contaminated with nickel, vanadium, arsenic, berylium, chromium, copper, molybdenium and selenium. Also residents within the range of 600feet from the dump site were relocated as it was discovered that creeks and underground water within that range were contaminated (USEPA, 2007).
In Montana, unlined coal ash pond operated by the Pennsylvania Power and Light corporation (PPL) power plant in Colstrip Montana was leaking and contaminated water wells with high levels of metals, boron and sulfate. The community located near the power plant had to be supplied with safe drinking water. The plume of contamination stretches at least a mile from the waste ponds (PSR, 2010).
In Wisconsin, fly ash and bottom ash dumped into an old sand and gravel unlined pit contaminated private wells with sulfate, boron, manganese, chloride and iron at levels above the state‟s enforcement standards and arsenic above the state‟s preventive action level (PSR, 2010).
In Newyork, a leaking dump containing fly ash ,bottom ash and other materials generated by Dunkirk steam station on lake erie, contaminated drinking water wells with lead.The owner was required to close down the facility and conduct extensive remediation (USEPA, 2007).
The Northern Indiana Public Service Corporation (NIPSCO) deposited an estimated one million tons of fly ash in town of Pines, Indiana. The ash was buried in a leaking land fill and used as construction fill in the town, where it contaminated drinking water wells throughout the town with toxic chemicals, including,arsenic, cadmium, boron and molybdenium. Hundreds of residents were put on municipal water and that of Pines was declared a superfund site. Also in Virginia, coal ash used in constructing golf course contaminated the ground water with heavy metals. When the ground water was tested, arsenic, boron, chromium, copper, lead and vanadium were detected at levels above the accepted standard (USEPA, 2007).
In New Mexico, Hunt and his wife survived indigestion,diarrhea, nausea, and vomitting with mental focus and comprehension, when he was treated of heavy metals. Hunt told the U.S. House of Representative sub-committee on energy and environment in December 2009, that he was dignosed with heavy metal poisoning, with extremely high arsenic, lead, iron and selenium levels which lead to his protracted illness. The poisoning was linked to pollution from San Juan power plant located next to Hunt‟s house. The company had buried coal ash in nearby stream beds, which leached into underground aquifers, contaminating Hunts water with heavy metals (Hunt, 2009).
In North Dakota,lined coal ash ponds used by the United Power coal creek station leaked and polluted the ground water with arsenic and selenium in excess of health based levels.
And in Texas, discharches from coal ash ponds poisoned fish with high levels of selenium at three reservoirs in Texas. The fish poisoning invariably became automatic pathway for heavy metal poisoning of those who eat the fish from the polluted reservoirs.As a result of this incident, the Texas department of health issued fish consumption adversories (USEPA, 2007).
Since the advent of industrial revolution till now, there have been several cases of heavy metal poisoning/pollution in different parts of the World, and the end to this ugly trend may not be feasible, as long as Nations (developing and developed) are pursuing technological advancement without adequate mitigation to protect the environment.
Apart from coal ash, pollution by heavy metal may occur largely from industries, trade wastes, agricultural wastes and automobile exhausts. Many of these wastes are toxic and they find their way to land, water, and air they may enter the body via food, drinking water, and air. Heavy metals are dangerous because they are not easily metabolized. So, they tend to bio-accumulate (Ayodele and Bulus, 2007).
Studies revealed that fish generally concentrate metallic ions in their body organs directly
In Minamata Japan 1953-1960 about 120 people died after eating fish poisoned by methylmecury. The same type of poisoning killed 144 people in Ghana in 1971, but this time it was not fish. The victims died as a result of eating rice treated chemically for planting with methylmecury (Aina and Adedipe, 1992).
Perhabs one of the greatest manifestation of heavy metal poisoning as a result of environmental pollution by anthropogenic activities is the case of “Itai-Itai”( cush-cush ) diesease in Japan in the 1960s (Kobayashi et al., 1970).
There are several other cases of heavy metal poisoning from different parts of the world, such as lead, mecury, cadmium and selenium poisoning of the River Rhine in Central Europe (Synder et al., 1971).
In Edmonton, A Cambodian born 52years old, Narin Sok, strangled his wife Huon 40 to death on 30th september, 2008. When he was examined they discovered that he was in a state of mental disorder. The report of the forensic psychiatrist (Dr. Lyia), based on the result of the clinical examination which revealed that Sok had excess lead, cadmium and manganese in his blood, said that his mental disorder was as a result of his exposure to harmful vapours while working in a city scrap yard for many years. However, Sok recovered fully from his delirious state when he was treated of heavy metal (Tony, 2008).
There were series of violent demonstrations in some parts of China‟s two provinces as a result of heavy metal pollution. Towards the end of July 2009, 509 of 2888 local residents tested in Liuyang city of China‟s Hunan province had been found to have excessively high levels of cadmium in their urine. On 30th July, thousands of angry residents besieged local government buildings and the police stations to protest against the pollution , which the environmental expert believe to come from nearby Xianghe chemical company site. Government reacted immediately by closing down the company (Hepeng, 2009).
Also, in early August, the same year , in Fengxiang County in northwestern Shaanx province of China, 174 children from three villages were diagnosed with lead poisoning,
with 851 of 1016 children tested found to have abnormally high levels of lead in the blood.The poisoning was linked to pollution from the nearby smelter company. This also led to violence among the outraged parents, who took to the streets, smashing trucks and pulling down fences to protest government‟s slow response to the incident. Meanwhile in late February 2009, Hu Wenbiao, chairman of Bioxin Chemical Company was sentnced to a ten year jail term for the firm‟s illegal discharge of pollutants that poisoned drinking water for 200,000 local residents (Hepeng, 2009).
In Lublin Poland, dental examination conducted on a patient who has suffered baldness(Alopecia areata) and a typical extensive and non healing cutaneous lesion for 12 years, revealed typical chronic poisoning by cadmium and bismuth compound. The patient was employed in a glass works for 20 years during which he was exposed to the toxic metals (Bachauck et al., 1999).
In Brisbane a two year old male Sun Conura named zippy by the owner was presented to the vet clinic for vomitting and foaming at the mouth. He had fluffed feathers and watery faeces. A radiograph performed on zippy shows that he was suffering from heavy metal poisoning . Further investigation revealed that Zippy liked to chew the paint from the window sills.The paint was analysed and found to be lead paint (Adrian and Amy, 2013).
In march 2010, Doctors without borders/medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) were alerted to a high number of child fatalities in zamfara state, northern Nigeria. An estimated 400 children died, and tests conducted by WHO, MSF and US center for disease control (CDC) confirmed high levels of lead in the blood of the surviving children.The cause of the lead poisoning was linked to the unsafe mining and ore processing for gold with high content of lead in its ore. An environmental assessment of the situation revealed that over 2000 children are still being treated (Galadima and Garba, 2010).