ASSESSMENT OF METAL POLLUTION IN THE CROP FIELDS ADJACENT TO INDUSTRIAL AREAS OF KUSHTIA AND JHENIAIDAH DISTRICTS OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated the heavy metals pollution in soil, water and crops collected from crop fields near the industrial area of the Kushtia and Jhenaidah districts. In case of water study low concentration of Pb(0.13-0.18 mg/kg) were present in all the studied location but Cd,Cu and Cr concentration were below detectable limits. In case of the soil sample, the mean Cr and Cu concentrations in the soil from the studied location were higher than the permissible limits set by FAO/WHO, indicating that the soil accumulate higher metals near industrial areas. In the case of the rice sample, the mean Pb and Cr concentration in rice grain from all of the studied locations was much higher than the permissible limits set by FAO/WHO, indicating the rice grain accumulate higher Pb and Cr from contaminated field soil. The results also indicate that the contamination factor (CF) values indicating only Cu(falling between 3-6) and Cr(greater than 6) pose significant to severe contamination in field soil, while all metals pose low contamination in water and rice grain samples collected from studied sampling sites(Below 1). The results of the study indicate that the contamination degree (CD) of the water and rice grain samples collected from different industrial areas in the Kushtia and Jhenaidah districts was found to be low(Below 1). However, the field soil samples collected from the same areas exhibited a moderate degree of contamination. A Pollution Load Index (PLI) greater than 1 indicates that the soil samples collected were significantly contaminated with metals.But the PLI values found in the water and rice grain samples were below 1, which means that their contamination levels are low.