Determination of heavy metals in water of Ganga and Yamuna river basin in Allahabad

Abstract

The objectives of this paper were to illustrate the distribution and levels of sediment contamination by heavy metals in the Allahabad city, and to compare recent data with those collected during the early 2001. The metals as, Cd, Ni, Cu, Fe, Pb, Co, Ni and Zn were chosen because of their abundance and toxic effects in the environment of highly industrialized and urbanized areas. The pollutants, which do not remain in water column or solution, could be absorbed rapidly by particulate matters and thereby they also could escape any detection by water monitoring schemes (Meiggs, 1980). Some heavy metals like Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni and Pb were determined in water from four reaches of the river from Yamuna (river-km 1112) upstream from Sangam to Arail Ghat (riverkm 851) downstream from Allahabad.