Heavy Metal Concentrations in Water Samples from Lake Kivu, Rwanda

Abstract

Heavy metals are among the pollutants threatening the living organisms including human beings. The presence of heavy metals in water is of great concern due to their toxicity to aquatic organisms, humans and ability to accumulate in food chains. Thus, there is a need to regularly monitor heavy metal levels in aquatic medium. The present study was conducted to assess heavy metal concentrations in Lake Kivu water. Water samples from Lake Kivu were taken from three sites, namely: Rusizi, Karongi and Rubavu. Heavy metals in the samples were analyzed using Atomic Absorption spectro-photometer (SHIMADZU AAS-6800) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES).Copper, lead, cadmium, chromium, manganese, mercury and arsenic concentrations were determined. Copper ranged from 3.24 to 10.01 μg/l, lead varied from 8.81 to 37.44 μg/l, cadmium ranged from 5.01 to 14.01 μg/l,chromium was between 139.5 and 226.6 μg/l, manganese varied from 598.3 to 795.7 μg/l, mercury ranged from 0 to 0.047 μg/l, while arsenic was not detected in any of the analyzed water samples. Except for arsenic, all the other heavy metals exceeded the EPA (US Environment Protection Agency) maximum permissible limit for class III surface water intended for fish consumption and recreation. Thus, there is a need to establish the sources of lake water pollution by heavy metals in order to design further strategies limiting the amounts of heavy metals entering Lake Kivu. Keywords: Cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, mercury