Impact Appraisal of Industrialization on Heavy Metal Contamination of Sirsa River Located in the Shivalik Foothills of North Western Himalayas

Abstract

In the era of industrialization, deterioration in the quality of aquatic systems has necessitated the monitoring of the environmental contaminants amongst which heavy metals are one of the dangerous pollutants owing to their high toxicity and bioaccumulation. Therefore, heavy metal status of Sirsa river flowing through Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh (BBN) industrial region was assessed dividing it into six equal stretches and taking river’s entry point to this region as control. In total there were seven treatments which were replicated six times. The nine heavy metals namely As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Pb, Ni, Zn and Mn were in the range of 0-0.02, 0-0.07, 0.02-0.10, 0.04-0.29, 0.09-1.20, 0.03-0.55, 0.03-0.27, 0.30-0.25 and 0.02-0.32 mg/l, respectively. All the metals were within the permissible limit prescribed by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) except Ni and Pb. The mean value of Heavy metal pollution index (HPI) and Metal index (MI) was 999 and 13, respectively and waster was rated under poor to very poor category for drinking purposes. A strong positive correlation was observed between Cr, Fe, Cd, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn representing corresponding increase in their concentrations specifying thereby the common origin of these metals from industrial activities. Therefore, the strict compliance of regulatory standards enacted for emission and discharges from industrial areas is needed to maintain the homeostasis of these riverine ecosystems as well as to aid in designing strategies for long-term management of valuable water resources.