Contamination of Heavy Metals and Nutrients in Sediment, Sludge and Sewage of India

Abstract

The stagnant water bodies in India are sink for contaminant i.e. detergent, fertilizer, nutrients, heavy metal, pesticide, microbe, etc. The contamination and sources of elements i.e. Al, K, P, S, Cl, As, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb in the sediment, sludge and sewage materials of the most industrialized cities of central India i.e. Raipur, Bhilai and Korba is described. The dominated metals i.e. Al, K, Ca, Ti, Fe and Mn in the geowaste materials (n = 20) contributed in the range of 4.8% - 36.3% with mean value of 10.2% ± 2.9%. The å4 concentration of nutrients i.e. P, K, S and Cl ranged from 1.2 - 12.5 g/kg with mean value of 7.9 ± 1.3 g/kg. The concentration of other heavy metals (HMs) i.e. As, V, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb ranged from 12 - 105, 35 - 175, 88 - 392, 14 - 77, 32 - 185, 38 - 626 and 18 - 228 mg/kg with mean value of 644 ± 78, 83 ± 15, 182 ± 41, 44 ± 7, 68 ± 18, 199 ± 71 and 85 ± 25 mg/kg, respectively. The spatial and vertical distribution, enrichment and sources of the elements in the sediments are discussed.