Determination of heavy metals in water and sediment of Rajang River at Pelagus area

Siong, Valerie Ling Er (2015) Determination of heavy metals in water and sediment of Rajang River at Pelagus area. [Final Year Project Report] (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The widely dispersion of heavy metals in the environment has become one of the problems that leads to environmental pollution. So far, there is no heavy metal study done on Rajang River at Pelagus area. The main objective of this study was to determine the distribution of the heavy metals in Rajang River at Pelagus area. Water and sediment samples were collected from a total of 16 stations, each with composites of triplicates. The samples were digested with acids and subjected to metal analysis using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer for As, Cu, Cd, Mn, Ni, Zn, Pb, Fe and Se, and Mercury Analyser for Hg. The range of percent recovery of elements in Certified Reference Material was between 92% and 104%. The average heavy metal contents in water and sediment were arranged in decreasing order of Fe (0.9402 mg/L) > Se (0.1555 mg/L) > Zn (0.0689 mg/L) > Mn (0.0380 mg/L) > Cu (0.0001 mg/L) > Hg (0.001 µg/L), and Fe (15972 mg/kg) > Mn (164.49 mg/kg) > Zn (27.50 mg/kg) > Ni (13.68 mg/kg) > Cu (9.69 mg/kg) > Hg (0.0143 mg/kg), respectively. The heavy metal concentrations in water and sediment were mainly attributed to natural occurrence. The nature of sediment as metal bioaccumulators resulted in higher heavy metal concentrations in sediment than the overlying water. Assessment of contamination status by contamination factor (CF), geoaccumulation index (Igeo) and pollution load index (PLI) proved that the study area was uncontaminated with the 10 heavy metals studied.

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