Open Journal of Applied Sciences, 2021, 11, 899-907 https://www.scirp.org/journal/ojapps ISSN Online: 2165-3925 ISSN Print: 2165-3917 DOI: 10.4236/ojapps.2021.118066 Aug. 19, 2021 899 Open Journal of Applied Sciences Distribution and Concentrations of Heavy Metals in Tropospheric Suspended Particulate Matter (PM 10 ) In Nairobi City, Kenya Faith Ndunge Mutua 1 , Paul Njogu 1 , Christopher Kanali 2 1 Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology, Nairobi, Kenya 2 School of Biomechanical and Environmental Engineering, JKUAT, Nairobi, Kenya Abstract Air pollution presents the greatest threat to human health and welfare in ur- ban environments. Population growth, industrial activities, expanded transport system, vehicular traffic, poor road planning, poor land use and traffic congestion contribute to the problem. Particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10 ) has become the principal pollutants due to increased material use, en- ergy demand and use as a result of global economic growth. This study as- sessed the levels of PM 10 in ambient air and heavy metal composition in Nai- robi city. Sampling sites were classified into three categories namely; con- trolled areas, industrial and residential areas as proscribed in the EMCA Air Quality Regulations, 2014. Portable Mini-Vol ambient air samplers were used for fine particulate monitoring. The concentrations of manganese, lead, and cadmium was determined in PM 10 samples from all sampling sites. The lead concentration mean was 0.07 ± 0.06 µg/m 3 , 0.34 ± 0.35 µg/m 3 and 1.10 ± 0.59 µg/m 3 for residential, controlled and industrial areas respectively. Generally, all afternoons had high particulate matter while the lowest concentration lev- els of PM 10 were recorded at night. Keywords Air Pollution, Heavy Metals, Tropospheric, Particulate Matter 1. Introduction Air pollution is undesirable impacts from vehicular traffic and industrial manu- facturers especially in the urban area. This is a serious health hazard because of the high prevalence of air pollution associated with diseases like cancer, asthma, How to cite this paper: Mutua, F.N., Njogu, P. and Kanali, C. (2021) Distribu- tion and Concentrations of Heavy Metals in Tropospheric Suspended Particulate Matter (PM10) In Nairobi City, Kenya. Open Journal of Applied Sciences, 11, 899-907. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojapps.2021.118066 Received: June 30, 2021 Accepted: August 16, 2021 Published: August 19, 2021 Copyright © 2021 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access