Author(s): Arbind Kumar, Anil Kumar and SK Jha

Abstract: In the present study, seasonal pollution of heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Zn, Cd, Pb) were determined in water, sediment and fish tissues (liver, gills, muscles) of Heteropneustes fossilis at three sites of Gogabil lake during 2018-2019. The results showed that total metal concentration in water were higher in summer except Pb, whereas in sediment they were higher in winter except for Zn. In the fish tissues the levels of Zn throughout the season were in the order of liver > gills > muscles, while Cd contents were gills > liver > muscles. Cu contents were highest (41.7±0.862µg g^-1) in gills while Cr contents (1.95±0.03µg g^-1) and Pb contents (1.703± 0.025µg g^-1) were highest in liver during summer. However total metal accumulations were highest in liver and gills and lowest in muscles. The higher accumulation of metals during summer and winter season was attributed to higher influx of disposal of municipal and household wastes and also agricultural runoff of catchment area. In addition, the pollution load index (PLI) values > 1 suggested that deterioration of sediment quality and I-geo values indicated moderate pollution by Cr and high degree pollution by Cd (class 5). Sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) indicating 27.7% sediment samples were moderately and 13.3% were highly polluted, whereas mean probable effect concentration quotients (m-PEC-Q) confirmed that moderate toxicological risks for sediment dwelling organism, with a toxicity incidence of 15-29%. This study suggests that lake water and selected fish are serious concern of human health and potential danger may occur in the future.

Pages: 163-175  |  830 Views  240 Downloads

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