Assessment of heavy metals status in a selected span of a lowermost stretch of river Ganga and their accumulation towards biotic and abiotic components

 PhD student, NIT Durgapur
 Assistant Professor, NIT Durgapur
 Principal Scientist, ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore
 Director, ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore, West Bengal
 E-mail: lokenath_chakroborty@yahoo.co.in
 Manuscript Received online: …… (Date), Accepted: … (Date), Published online …… (Date)

The objective of the present studies is to assess the heavy metal contamination level in the ecosystem of the lower part of the Ganga river. To meet the desired goal, accumulation level of heavy metals i.e. Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, Fe, and Zn have been determined in the different parts like flesh, liver, kidney, gill tissues of the selected fishes (Glossogobius sp., Mystus sp., Hilsha ilisha, and Jhonius gangeticus) which are generally available in the study area. The contamination level indicates the potential health risk for the consumers. According to the mean value of the metals presented into the river water in this region are found Fe>Zn>Cr>Ni>Cd>Pd in this order. According to the mean value of the concentration of the metals into the tissues of the fishes the trend shows, Fe>Zn>Cr>Ni>Pb>Cd. Out of 90 tissue samples, 38 samples were above the safe limit which was almost 42% of the total samples. According to the Bioaccumulation Factor (BAF), the BAF of 24 samples is more than 1.0 and that indicates the accumulation pattern from water to 27% of fish tissues are in several folds. According to the estimation of the Estimated Daily Intake (EDI), 25% of fish fleshes are not suitable for human consumption although the estimated Target hazard quotient (THQ) values of all samples are below the threshold limit.