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Heavy Metal Contamination in Gulshan-baridhara Lake, Dhaka

FARZANA AHMED MOHUYA
Department of Geography and Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh

REJUAN HOSSAIN BHUIYAN
Department of Geography and Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh

SIRAJUL HOQUE
Department of Geography and Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Concentrations of cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) in the pelagic water of Gulshan-Baridhara Lake were determined. The samples were collected from ten different spots in summer (April, 2007) and monsoon (August, 2007) seasons. The concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Pb in the lake water varied from 0.068 - 0.091, 0.048 - 0.225, 0 - 6.135, 0 - 0.062 and 0.023 - 0.067 mg/l during the summer season, respectively. Mean values of the samples collected from mid points for Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Pb of ten stations in summer were 0.083, 0.100, 2.336, 0.074, and 0.046 mg/l, respectively. In monsoon the concentration of above mentioned heavy metals varied from 0.016 - 0.019 mg Cd/l, 0.005 - 0.035 mg Cr/l, 0.002 - 0.018 mg Cu/l, 0.007 - 0.159 mg Ni/l, and 0.052 - 0.151 mg Pb/l. Mean values of these heavy metals in monsoon were 0.018, 0.018, 0.011, 0.037 and 0.093, mg/l, respectively. The depletion factor was less than unity for Pb and exceptionally high for Cu. Finally the study revealed that among the heavy metals only Pb concentration exceeded the standard level during the monsoon, otherwise concentrations of all other four heavy metals (viz. Cd, Cr, Cu and Ni) exceeded the standard level of drinking-, fishing- and surface water as set up by WHO, GOB, USEPA, DOE and FWPCA, for the summer period.

Keywords: Status, Heavy metals, Contamination, Gulshan-Baridhara Lake

Location: Gulshan-Baridhara lake

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Risk Management in Agriculture

Commodity: Heavy metal

Objectives:

The present paper deals with the contamination of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Pb in Gulshan-Baridhara lake.

Methodology:

Gulshan-Baridhara lake is located 23º48' N and 90º25' E of Dhaka city. The length of the lake is 3.8 km which covers an area of 0.0160 km². It has an average depth of 2.5 m, and a volume of 12 ×105/m³ (6-7). The lake is a channel-like elongated water body which is located in the northern fringe of the main part of Dhaka city. The lake is an old left back river channel but excavated later on in two phases. The western side of the lake was excavated during 1959-1960 and the eastern side during 1962-1964 for building residential areas. The lake has inlets through which it is connected with some old river channel and is, therefore, affected by flood water during peak flooding seasons.(8) Many drains and gullies discharge into the lake. In 1998-1999 Gulshan-Baridhara lake was temporarily drained to remove accumulated bottom sediments (about 0 - 30 cm). (9) Water samples were collected from ten different stations considering two sampling points in each (Fig. 1) i.e., edge- and mid-point of the lake. The sampling was carried out in April and August, 2007 each as a representative month for summer and monsoon, respectively. Samples of lake water were collected at a depth of 20 cm from the surface water level by hand dipping acid cleaned pre-washed plastic bottles of 500 ml from ten locations along the Gulshan-Baridhara lake. The mid-point sample was collected with the help of a boat. The collected samples were carried to the Department of Soil, Water and Environment of Dhaka University in insulated ice-box immediately after the collection. For heavy metal analysis water samples were filtered through the Whatman Filter Paper No. 42. and acidified with concentrated HCl to lower the pH < 2.0. All these samples were kept in the refrigerator at 4ºC for further analyses. Heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Pb) of the water samples were determined by the AAS method (Model-Perkin Elmer Analyst 800) by using the software Winlab 32TM Changing Technique after digesting the samples with concentrated HNO₃ in the Laboratory of Centre for Advanced Research in Physical, Chemical, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Dhaka.

Source of Information: Dhaka Univ. J. Biol. Sci. 19(1): 53-61, 2010 (January)

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

From the results of the experiment it can be clearly stated that the concentrations of studied pollutants were higher during the summer particularly in the month of April, when the rainfall was comparatively low. But during the monsoon the values were in general low and fall within various standard levels.(11-13, 18) This adjustment might have occurred because of rainfall and dilution. Only in the cases of lead, concentration level was high during the monsoon. It might be due to the high percentage of lead in Dhaka’s air in recent time, which mixed up with rain water during monsoon and finally reached to the water bodies through precipitation. Lead concentrations exceeded the standards of drinking water at Sts. 1, 5, 7, 8 and 9. When the fishing-, industrial- and irrigation water standards were taken into consideration, Pb concentration exceeded the standard level at Sts. 3, 5, 9 and 10.

Knowledge Management: Journal