Assessment of Heavy Metals in Sediment of River Pil-Gani Plateau State Nigeria

River Pil-gany is exposed to natural and anthropogenic sources of heavy metals, which may pollute it causing toxicity to the dependent population and aquatic organisms. Sediment, an important part of water bodies, serves as reservoir/sink or secondary source of heavy metals, liable to re-contaminate the water hence, requires adequate monitoring attention. Heavy metals presence in the sediment was ascertained using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry while, contamination factor, pollution load index and geo-accumulation index were employed to assess the degree of contamination. Sediments from four sampling points were analyzed for selected heavy metals in rainy and dry seasons and were found to range thus; Cd (1.190 to 7.540), Cr (4.730 to 20.803), Cu (4.760 to 10.500), Fe (1744.000 to 8349.327), Mn (266.000 to 373.830), Pb (0.003 to 277.000), Zn (12.200 to 19.900) in mg/L respectively. The result of the aforementioned indices for the respective metals; Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn, for contamination factor index was in the ranges of (1.86 to 15.08), (0.06 to 0.28), (0.12 to 0.26), (0.05 to 2.52), (0.39 to 0.53), (0.00 to 17.31) and (0.19 to 0.35) respectively. Meanwhile for geo-accumulation, the ranges were (0.31 to 3.33), (-5.74 to -1.23), (-3.66 to -2.24), (-5.16 to -0.67), (-1.94 to -1.45), (-10.97 to 3.53) and (-2.94 to -2.12) respectively. The pollution load index for the study area was in the range (0.06 to 0.66). River Pil-gany sediment is moderately to highly contaminated due to the impact of anthropogenic activities thus requires frequent monitoring.