Abstract
Chemical pollution in rivers ecosystems is leading towards an increase in the concentrations of heavy metals in fish body, which might have a negative impact on humans. The fish were collected from a protected Natura 2000 area in the Moldavia region, eastern Romania named �Buhusi-Bacau-Beresti� Storage basin. The aim of this study was to measure the heavy metal concentrations in water, sediment and fish meat (muscles and gills), in order to assess the human health risk due to consumption. Industrial effluents discharged into the environment pose a serious threat for the agricultural products and living organisms. In view of this, level of some heavy metals, such as: Cd, Zn, Pb and Cu present in water, sediment and fish tissue samples of fish populations from the area studied were determined using wet digestion-based atomic adsorption method. This study revealed that the maximum Cd concentration (0.911 mg/Kg) was found in fish gills of specie European Perch � Perca fluviatilis and the minimum (0.0197 mg/Kg) was found in Zander - Sander lucioperca fish muscle sample. Zn levels in fish gills of the studied samples were ranged from 108.6698 mg/Kg to 195.4167 mg/Kg. Maximum Pb concentration in gills (1.924 mg/Kg) was found in fish sample of Zarte � Vimba Vimba, while the minimum concentration (0.45 mg/Kg) was found in European Perch � Perca fluviatilis. The heavy metal found in the samples analyzed in the largest quantity is Cu, in the gills of Northernpike - Esox Lucius fish.The concentration determined in samples exceeded the World Health Organisation maximum allowances. In order to assess the risk to which humans are exposed by eating infected meat with heavy metals, the target hazard quotient (THQ) values were estimated.
Highlights
Environmental pollution represents a serious problem due to the rapid increases of industrialization, fast development of economics, population growth and agricultural activities
The heavy metal found in the samples analyzed in the largest quantity is copper, with a value of (16.23 mg / Kg) in the gills of Northernpike Esox Lucius fish
Heavy metals are found in conjunction, as demonstrated by the analyses we performed and rendered synthetically in Figures 2–4, which leads to an increased level of danger for the ecosystem and for the people, a larger degree of contamination being registered because of the synergic development of toxicity and because fishes are organisms in which pollutants are accumulated
Summary
Environmental pollution represents a serious problem due to the rapid increases of industrialization, fast development of economics, population growth and agricultural activities. Due to contamination of heavy metals in water and sediment cause serious threats to food chain, mostly fishes which can accumulate and biomagnifying the heavy metals [9, 10], because fish are the most significant biomonitors in aquatic systems for the estimation of metal pollution level [11]. The largest category of birds is represented by invertebrate consumers, which add up to a total of 89 species They are not protected from the pollutants harmful to soil and water, their food being mainly composed of soft-bodied invertebrates, organisms with a rather high capacity of bioaccumulation of pollutants [13]. 739 bis of 31.10.2007 on the declaration of special aifaunistic protection areas (APSA) as an integral part of the European ecological network Natura 2000 in Romania It was analysed the existence of heavy metals in the fishes that populate the lakes of this protected area with a
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