AccScience Publishing / AJWEP / Volume 14 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.3233/AJW-170007
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Heavy Metal Contents in Sediments of an Urban  Industrialized Area—A Case Study of Tongi Canal,  Bangladesh

Md. Zakir Hossen1* Md. Mahidul Islam1 Md. Sohrab Hossain1
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1 Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture Agricultural University, Mymensingh – 2202, Bangladesh
AJWEP 2017, 14(1), 59–68; https://doi.org/10.3233/AJW-170007
Submitted: 28 August 2016 | Revised: 25 November 2016 | Accepted: 25 November 2016 | Published: 18 January 2017
© 2017 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

 A study was conducted to investigate heavy metal content in sediments collected from the whole area of Tongi canal, close to Dhaka city of Bangladesh. Total concentration of metals in aquous extract of sediments was determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) and the range of Cu, Zn, Pb and Fe varied from 18.34 to 101.27, 92.80 to 1111.15, 18.42 to 38.11 and 12327.5 to 47112.5 μg g-1, respectively while there was trace amounts of Cd. The study results showed that the mean concentrations of Cu, Zn and Pb in sediments of Tongi canal were higher compared to geochemical standard and other Bangladeshi rivers. The average concentrations of Cu, Zn and Pb in the carbonate fraction were 7.07, 40.13 and 2.06 μg g-1, respectively which can be released to the sediment pore water in acidic conditions. The calculated geoaccumulation index (Igeo) for Zn in 85% sampling sites exhibited Igeo class 1-3, indicating moderately to strongly polluted sediment quality. But in most cases, Igeo values for Cu and Pb exhibited Igeo class 1, indicating moderately polluted sediment quality. Similarly, the calculated enrichment factors (EFc) for 100 and 88% sampling sites had values >5.0 for Zn and Pb, respectively indicating anthropogenic pollution load for these metals. As regards to risk assessment code (RAC), Zn and Cu come under the medium risk category, while Pb comes under low risk category. The study concluded that the degree of contamination due to Zn, Pb and Cu in the study area was comparatively high, so it is desirable to take necessary initiative to minimize the pollution level as well as to monitor their concentrations in water and sediments routinely in future.

Keywords
Urban and industrialized
heavy metals
Tongi canal
Bangladesh
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Electronic ISSN: 1875-8568 Print ISSN: 0972-9860, Published by AccScience Publishing