Status of Heavy Metal Concentration in Water and Sediment of River Ganga at Selected Sites in the Middle Ganga Plain
Journal Title: International Journal of Research in Chemistry and Environment (IJRCE) - Year 2012, Vol 2, Issue 4
Abstract
The Pollution of aquatic ecosystem by heavy metals has assumed serious proportions due to their toxicity and accumulative behavior. This paper deals with the measurement of five heavy metals i.e. Cu, Cr, Zn, Ni, and Cd. Grab samples of water and sediments for a period of two year (January 2007 –December 2008) were collected from 3 different sites following the Standard Methods. Water and sediment samples of the river were processed and analyzed for heavy metals using AAS. The heavy metals found in the river water were in the range of: Cu (ND to 0.12 mg/l); Cr (BDL to 1.09 mg/l); Ni (BDL to 0.12 mg/l) and Zn (BDL to 0.87 mg/l), and in the sediments in the range of: Cu (BDL to 0.09 mg/g); Cr (BDL to 0.14 mg/g); Ni (BDL to 0.09mg/g) and Zn (BDL to 0.87 mg/g). Cd was found absent both in river water and sediment samples. Some physico-chemical parameters viz, pH, dissolved oxygen, total hardness, phosphatephosphorous and nitrate-nitrogen were also estimated as they have direct or indirect influence on incidence, transport and speciation of the heavy metals. Based on the findings, the Ganga river sediments from Champanala to Barari can be considered as unpolluted with respect to Cd, Cu, and Ni, whereas concentration of Cr and Zn show their pollutional status which may be detrimental to the rich biodiversity of the river segment.
Authors and Affiliations
Singh Leena, Choudhary K. , Singh K.
Keywords
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