Pollution indices and distribution pattern of heavy metals in Qarun Lake water, Egypt

F. Abd El-Aal, Rehab; M. El Sayed, Seliem; S. Attia, Mohamed; S. Donia, Noha; E. Goher, Mohamed

doi:10.21608/ejabf.2020.75893

Pollution indices and distribution pattern of heavy metals in Qarun Lake water, Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

10.21608/ejabf.2020.75893

Abstract

Qarun Lake is a remnant of the historic Moreis Lake; it is an enclosed lake receives the water through several drains mainly El-Bats and El-Wadi drains carrying agricultural wastewater mixed with domestic and industrial wastes to the lake, which increases the accumulation of pollutants, in particular, the heavy metals in the lake environment. The present study is concerning the levels, distribution pattern as well as the pollution indices of the heavy metals in Qarun Lake water. The sites facing the inlet of the drain showed the highest contents of the metal, recording 587.55, 59.6, 61.92, 26.98, 50.72 and 3.63 µg/l for Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, Pb and Cd respectively. On the other side the, Metal Index (MI) and Pollution Load Index (PLI) denotes that Qarun Lake is suffering from serious metal pollution for the aquatic life utilization because of the huge amount of wastes discharging into the lake which maybe leads to dangerous adverse impacts on the fish and other aquatic organisms. The study recommended that usage of biological and chemical treatment for wastewater discharging into the lake into to improve the water quality of the lake water.

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