Assessment of Heavy Metal Contamination and Its Indexing Approach for Pond Water in Angul District, Orissa, India

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Reza, Rizwan | Singh, Gurdeep

Affiliations: Dept. of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: raza_ism@rediffmail.com

Abstract: The study was carried out in Angul–Talcher region of Orissa to investigate the metal contamination in various ponds. In order to achieve the objective, fourteen water samples were collected from ponds during summer and winter seasons. The concentrations of trace metals such as Cd, Cr, Cu, Co Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Hg and Zn were determined by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The obtained data is used for calculating the heavy metal pollution index (HPI) to know the existing water quality status of ponds. The maximum value of HPI was 79.01 and 63.83 in summer and winter season respectively, which is below the critical index limit of 100. Hg and Cr could not be detected in any sample of the study area.

Keywords: Pond water, seasonal variation, heavy metal pollution index

Journal: Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 77-83, 2011