Indoor and Outdoor Heavy Metals Evaluation in Kindergartens in Amman, Jordan

Selected heavy metals and water-soluble cations and anions in street, playground and indoor dust samples in the kindergartens (KGs) of Amman area-Jordan were determined by using flame atomic absorption spectrometer and ion chromatography. To achieve this aim, dust samples were collected from 38 different KGs at 4 different sites during summer season. It was found that the average total levels of Cu, Zn, Pb, Fe and Mn in street dust were 23.45, 188.47, 148.05, 8829.68 and 67.73 mg/kg, respectively. While for outdoor dust samples, the levels were 4.63, 127.38, 18.48, 8361.10 and 57.83 mg/kg, and finally, for indoor dusts were 23.51, 262.78, 71.33, 5566.14 and 51.28 mg/kg, respectively. The anions; F^-, Cl^-, NO3^- and SO4^2- and the cations; Na^+, K^+, Ca^2+ and Mg^2+ were analyzed by ion chromatography (IC). The results showed that there were high levels of these ions in all dust samples. The physiochemical properties; pH, moisture and organic matter content were also determined. The accuracy of results for heavy metals was examined by analysis of a standard reference material (SRM). Pearson coefficient was used to measure the correlation between the ions and the heavy metals in all the sites. ANOVA was also used to study the relation between the type of site and the heavy metals content.