Bharti Ramola and Ajay Singh
"Heavy metals" which have specific gravity about 5 times that of water were determined in the different effluent samples taken from Selaqui industrial area. When water is contaminated with heavy metals then water becomes toxic and dangerous for our biological system. Quality of water affects our biological system and our surrounding is also affected. In the present study concentrations of some heavy metals in the effluents of pharmaceutical Industries operating in the industrial area (Selaqui region) of Dehradun were determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The heavy metals analyzed in this study included Cadmium, Chromium, Lead, Nickel, Zinc and Copper. Most of the samples were found to contain the metals in varying concentrations. The highest concentration of heavy metal detected was Iron with concentration of 10.80 mg/L. The highest concentration for Pb was found to be 0.26 mg/L while 0.55 mg/l for Cd.Zinc was obtained in the range of 1 to 1.3 mg/L, Copper in the range of 0.08 to 0.38 mg/L and Nickel 0.03 to 0.12 mg/l. Chromium, lead, cadmium and nickel were found to be above the permissible limit recommended by WHO standards. Different metals were found within the permissible limit in ground water sample but if these effluents containing above mentioned heavy metals are drained regularly without proper treatment, then after some years the ground water will not be suitable for drinking purpose and it may cause diseases in the human being and animals and will also affect the flora of the region. This study reveals the need for enforcing adequate effluent treatment methods before their discharge to surface water to reduce their potential environmental hazards.
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