HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATION AND POLLUTION LOAD INDEX IN ESTUARINE ENVIRONMENT OF TAPI RIVER, INDIAMONIKA DUBEY AND N.C. UJJANIAAbstract Investigation was carried out on water quality in terms of heavy metals contamination and its concentration using to compute the pollution load index and contamination factor in estuarine environment of Tapi River, Gujarat (India). The water samples were collected at monthly interval during January 2014 to September 2014 from Hazira estuary of the Tapi river and heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium (Hexa), lead and cobalt were analyzed. The heavy metals Cd (0.096±0.014), Cr(Hexa) (0.094±0.014), Pb (0.713±0.041) and Co (0.132±0.019) were observed during the study which revealed that the estuarine area of Tapi river is heavily contaminated by heavy metals and were verified by contamination factor of Pb (139.80) < Co (12.00) < Cd (8.73) < Cr(Hexa) (0.94) and pollution load index (10.83). The possible sources of such contamination in Tapi estuary water are direct discharges of industrial effluents. To conserve these water resources, it is advised that entry of such pollutants should be stopped, need to implement the appropriate management policy and strictly follow the rules & regulation to discharge effluents. |