The threat of contamination of our drinking water sources by pollutants generated largely through man made activities and some natural causes has been a source of public health concern. In this study, water samples from 13 shallow wells, 10 boreholes and 8 brands of packaged water were collected from Zaria between February and April 2006. The samples were analyzed for lead using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS). The mean lead concentration detected ranged from 0.00±0.00mg/dm3 to 1.0±0.4mg/dm3, 0.00±0.00mg/dm3 to 1.03±0.95mg/dm3 and 0.00 ±0.00mg/dm3 to 0.56±0.34mg/dm3 for shallow wells, boreholes and packaged water respectively. These samples contained lead above the 0.01mg/dm3 World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water limit for lead.

Keywords: Lead, borehole, shallow well, package water.