Assessment of some heavy metals contamination in sediments of Tigris River in Kut City, Wasit Governorate, Iraq

Abstract

The grade of contamination in the Tigris River sediments in the Kut City by heavy metals Co, Cu, Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn and Cd has been evaluated by using some pollution indices like Enrichment factor (EF), geo-Accumulation (I-geo), contamination factor (CF) and pollution load (PLI). The (EF, enrichment factor) is one of the most factors applied as a way to describe the degree of anthropogenic pollution to find enrichment ratios, where on the geo-Accumulation has been mostly applied as a measurement of contamination in freshwater sediment. Whereas, the index of pollution load (PLI), appear the sum of times by which the heavy metals concentrations in the sediment exceed the level, concentration and accord a guide to the total level of heavy metals is toxicity in a special sample. By using these numerical sediments indices we found that the Sediments of Tigris River in the Kut city are polluted by the metals of Lead and Cadmium, and moderately polluted by the metals of Nickel, Zinc and Copper, while the sediments of Tigris River are not polluted by the metals of Manganese, Cobalt and Chromium.