Assessment of Heavy Metal Contamination and Calculation of Its Pollution Index for Uglješnica River, Serbia

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the water pollution in terms of total content of heavy metals by parameter called Heavy metal pollution index (HPI). The water samples were collected from four different locations along the course of the river during spring and the autumn seasons. The concentrations of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg) were determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy. The data were used to evaluate HPI of the river water. The mean value of HPI was 67.487 for the spring season, and 80.676 for the autumn season. The average for both seasons and all sampling sites is 74.082. The maximum value of 112.722 found at one sampling site is above the critical index limit of 100. Also, from the values of mean HPI for each sampling site could be concluded that the pollution load at sampling site-4 is the most significant (HPI 89.575).

Keywords: HPI; Heavy metals; River water; Seasonal variations; Water pollution.