A Comparative Assessment of Chromium an Bacterial Paint Contamination in Residential Buildings in Lagos, Nigeria

Painted wall scrapings were collected from selected geographical zones in Lagos metropolis. This was done in order to assess the level of chromium in paints applied on family housing units and compare with the socio-economic status of occupants. Indoor and outdoor samples were collected from thirteen urban locations and thirteen rural locations. The bacterial population density was higher in urban than in rural samples with the higher population in the outdoor samples (3.4 x 104cfu/g to 2.4 x106 cfu/g) and a lower population in indoor samples (8.7 x 103 cfu/g to 2.3 x 106cfu/g). The bacteria isolated from the outdoor samples which were identified using the Analytical Profile Index (API) included Chryseomonas lutoela, Micrococcus luteus, and Micrococcus lylae. Atomic absorption spectrophotometric analysis (AAS) showed that chromium was more predominant in the rural areas ranging from 0.00-902.9mg/l with the highest in outdoor samples, than in urban areas (0.00-8.00mg/l) indoor and (0.00-3.00mg/l) outdoor. In the rural locations, Burkholderia cepacia, Stenotrophomonas maltophila, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were isolated. The study revealed that chromium concentration in the samples can be used as a measure of paint quality. The concentration of chromium observed in rural housing units in Lagos state, Nigeria may be toxic or harmful to health.