“…Heavy metals can persist in the environment and disrupt the biochemical and physiological systems of plants, animals, and humans. Speci cally, Pb can be absorbed by organisms through water, air, and nutrients and disrupt nucleic acid and protein formation, antioxidant enzyme activity, and cell membrane function (Yabe et al, 2015;Hu et al, 2016;Chen et al, 2019;Kataba et al, 2021;Kataba et al, 2021;Aytekin, 2022;Pham et al, 2022). Cr is the second most common metal contaminant in groundwater, soil, and sediments, and Cr occurs in two main oxidation states in surface water, as an immobile and less soluble Cr(III) under reducing conditions and as a mobile, toxic, and bioavailable Cr(VI) under oxidising conditions.…”