Assessment of heavy metals in water and sediments by icp-aes in coastal area of Chirackal, Ernakulam District, Kerala

The study was to examine the physico-chemical parameters and the concentration of heavy metals in water and sediment samples of Chirackal mangrove area, Ernakulam, Kerala. The parameters determined include pH, Alkalinity, Salinity, Chloride, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), % carbon and % organic matter by titrimetric method, phosphate, nitrite, nitrate and sulphate and silicate by UV-Visible Spectrophotometer as well as the concentration of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Pb, Co, Ni, Mn and Zn) in water and sediment samples by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrophotometer ( ICP-AES) after pretreatment of the samples with microwave digestion system.. The results indicated that the average concentration of the metals in water and sediment on the periphery (station 1) was more when compared to the other two stations. Mangrove sediments showed high Fe (2441mg/g), Cu (6.04mg/g), Cd (2.83mg/g), Zn (61.04mg/g), Mn (28.36mg/g) and Pb (2.66mg/g) concentrations than water samples. The highest average concentration for Pb in water was 1.81ppm in station 2 and for sediment was 2.11ppm in station 1. Also, the highest average concentration reported for Cr in water and sediment was 2.22 ppm and 2.36 ppm respectively. With regard to the results, the area contain low Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb contents.