Assessment of heavy metal contamination in three aquaculture fish ponds of urban Kolkata, West-Bengal, India

Abstract

Water is an important component of living organisms, especially for human beings. This study assessed the metal qualities of three fish ponds in urban Kolkata, West-Bengal between January 2014 to June 2014 with a view to determine the level of contamination of Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd) and Zinc (Zn) elements in the pond water. It was performed for the water samples by using atomic absorption spectro-photometery (AAS). The average metal concentration was found to be higher in P-3 in comparison to other two ponds P-1 and P-2 This indicates the poor water quality of P-3 in comparison to other ponds. It is a well known fact that the heavy metal ions are potentially toxic to human health as and could be quite detrimental for human life. This study suggests the preventive measures which are to be adopted to control this heavy metal contamination in three aquaculture fish Ponds of urban Kolkata, West-Bengal, India.