Water Contamination by Heavy Metals and their Toxic Effect on Aquaculture and Human Health through Food Chain

Abstract

Heavy metals are metals with relatively high density and toxic at very low concentrations. The common heavy metal pollutants can be traced everywhere in minimal quantities. Heavy metals contaminate aquatic environments through various sources like industrial waste, domestic effluents, atmospheric sources, and other metal-based industries, E-Waste. Aquaculture is the rearing of aquatic animals and other organisms. Heavy metal toxicity is responsible for the degradation of the population of aquaculture, causing physical deformities in organisms and polluting the aquatic environment. These toxic heavy metals cause various diseases in fishes. As fishes are part of human consumption, it is indirectly affecting humans also. The food chain is greatly impacted by the introduction of heavy metals in water bodies & aquatic ecosystems. These heavy metals have greater significance on the environment as they persist for longer durations and have bioaccumulative capacities causing degradation of water health.