CURRENT STATUS OF HEAVY METAL POLLUTION NEAR SELECTED INDUSTRIAL SITES IN DELHI

Abstract

Our National Capital ‘Delhi’ is situated along the Yamuna river, a major contributory of the river Ganges. It has a population of 18.98 million people, and it supports one of the largest bunch of small-scale industries in India, producing waste of varying characteristics. It is figured out that the city generates 2370 million liters of sewage water and 6600 tones of solid waste daily. This waste stream is often discharged into open nalas, which further sum-up with others before vacuuming their contents into the Yamuna river, thus, finally resulting in the overall degradation of the overall water quality. In this study,sewagewater samples were collected from selected industrial sites (Jhilmil, Mondoli, Narela and Mayapuri) within the NCT of Delhi representing the longitudinal spread of the industrial belt on both of the sides of the Yamuna river. Cumulative estimation of heavy metals (Ni, Cd, Co, Mn, Fe,Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, and Hg) was calculated out using Advance Single Beam UV-VIS Spectrophotometer Model LT-290. The results extracted by this represent that the pH of the sewage water were moderately basic in nature. Sewage water samples having basic pH levels had relatively high heavy metal contents in it. Clearly we can assure that Jhilmil industrial site had very high levels of Ni, Pb, Mn, Cd, Co,Cu, Zn, and Fe in the sewage compared with the other industrial sites. Also, the spatial distribution of heavy metals in liquid waste water showed that Jhilmil had large amount of Cu and Hg, while Narela had Co, Pb, Ni, Cr, and Fe compared with the other industrial sites. These high levels were the clear indicator of heavy anthropogenic input from industrial, urban, domestic and agricultural sources.