Transfer of Mercury and Cadmium from Terrestrial to Aquatic Ecosystems

Assessment of Heavy Metals in Water, Fish and Sediments from UKE Stream, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

“…However, the concentration of Fe in sediments and water to an extent is determined by the nature of soil along the stream banks 15 from where it is leached into the water body and sediments. The values of Zn recorded are lower than the ones obtained from the results of the report of heavy metals in water, sediments and fish from River Nasarawa and for Cu, its concentration is the same for water and higher for sediment than that obtained for River Nasarawa 10 . Zinc is widely used for making paints, dyes, rubber, wood preservatives and through wares and tears; zinc from this sources is discharged into the environment.…”

“…Parameters evaluated were grand mean, standard deviation (SD) and coefficient of variation (CV %). Table 1 10 but its value in water, also highest is high than the value recorded in the report of heavy metals in water and fish from River Antau 5 . However, the concentration of Fe in sediments and water to an extent is determined by the nature of soil along the stream banks 15 from where it is leached into the water body and sediments.…”

“…The concentrations of Cd and Pb obtained are lower for water and higher for sediments from the work on a water body used for irrigation in Keffi 10 . The concentration of Mn in sediment is lower and higher in water than those obtained from the work 20 .…”

“…Table-3 and Table-4 show mean metal concentrations in the body parts (head, gills, intestine and the flesh) of African catfish, Clarias garipienus and Synodontis schall respectively. The presence of these metals analysed in the body parts of fish serves as an indicator for the extent of heavy metal pollution of the water body from where these aquatic organisms (fish) are obtained 10 . Also the presence of most of the metals determined in the fish parts agrees with the results of the report of the level of heavy metals in aquatic organism from different water bodies [24][25] which showed that aquatic animals, fish, inclusive bio-accumulate heavy metals in considerably amount, and because these metals are not bio-degradable, the metal tend to stay in the fish tissues for a very long time which upon consumption of these fish, the heavy metals get transferred to man, leading to heavy metal poisoning in man especially if present in higher concentrations.…”

“…The level of metals in water was also determined using AAS after pretreatment. The results showed the presence of metals determined in all the samples but were below the deleterious level 5,10 .…”