Assessment of heavy metal concentrations in surface water sources in an industrial region of central India

Rapid industrialisation and resulting industrial solid waste from power plants and integrated iron and steel industries, have imposed an enormous environmental pressure on water resources of Chhattisgarh, a state in Central India. Rural population living nearby the study area is mainly depended on the available surface water in the form of lakes or pond in their vicinity. Therefore it is necessary to look after the surface water through leachate pollution caused by dumping and disposal of industrial solid waste. In the present study, ten surface water samples each for pre monsoon and post monsoon were collected for analysis from the surrounding areas of a major industrial region of Chhattisgarh. The AAS analysis of the surface water samples shows higher concentration of certain heavy metals above the permissible limits. In the pre monsoon samples the metals Mn and Cr resulted higher concentration and at the same time metals; Cu, Fe and Pb resulted in lower concentrations. Similarly, for the post monsoon samples, Mn, Cr and Fe found with higher concentration, while Cu and Pb resulted with lower concentration. The high amount of heavy metals were found in the analyzed samples shows that there is a real risk for population living in the nearby areas of the industrial region of Chhattisgarh. Therefore a huge amount of industrial wastes produced needs a proper disposal. Unscientific and poorly-managed disposal of industrial solid wastes containing heavy metals needs remediation before discharging into the environment.