Contamination of small watercourses with heavy metals depending on distance from emission sources: Lesser Poland case study

Abstract

AbstractDespite the size of small watercourses, their contamination is a major environmental problem. The Małopolska Upland and the adjacent Silesian‐Cracow Upland, situated in the Lesser Poland region, are two good examples of an area with many small rivers and creeks, which are highly susceptible to contamination. The study reports the condition of small watercourses in terms of their contamination with zinc, lead and cadmium. Both water and sediments were studied. The atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) method was used to determine the concentrations of metallic elements. The analytical results showed that despite the decreasing impact of the local industry, levels of concentration of all the studied metals in sediments are significantly elevated in the distance range approximately up to 20 km from the emitters. However, analysing the changes of metallic contaminants content with increasing distance one can state that watercourses located further than 30 km from the emitters are safe for aquatic organisms.