Studies on Emerging Contaminants in Water, Soil and Sediment Samples from selected locations of Pune District, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

The objective of this study is to evaluate the Emerging Contaminates (ECs), contamination levels, occurrence and fate in the water, soil and sediments samples taken from the different locations of Pune, India. The Study area includes the samples from the upstream regions to the central and further moving on to observe the changes in the downstream regions which is highly polluted. In this study the concentration of detected levels of pesticides (contaminants) were noted to be ranging from ND to 720 μg/l. Mostly, very commonly used pesticides namely HCH, Endosulfan, Parathion-methyl and Chlorpyrifos have been closely studied. This study involves the seasonal variation in the levels of the pollutants specially post monsoon. Mostly Pharmaceuticals, such as Acetaminophen, Levofloxacin, Azithromycin were present in high concentration ranging from 98μg/l, 65 μg/l, 305 μg/l respectively from the water samples collected from the Central Region, where it’s thickly populated. In comparison with developed countries like USA, it was observed that these ECs were present in the waste water 50-65% in lesser concentration than in India. This study also includes the determination of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Co, Fe, Mn, Mg, Ni, Pd and Zn) in the samples collected so to proceed further with the heavy metal accumulation and speciation studies. All of the mentioned heavy metals appeared to be above the permissible limits ranging from moderately toxic to highly toxic. This study will not only help the local authorities but also give us the understanding of how important it is to study the present condition of our water bodies and to regulate initiatives for monitoring the ECs, so to embrace and enjoy better health, life and sustainability.