An investigation of lead in urban environment of Kolkata city, India
Abstract
The lead heavy metal is an important environmental pollutant particularly in the urban areas with high anthropogenic pressure like vehicular and industrial. Its presence in the atmosphere, soil, water and biological systems even in traces can cause serious problems to all living organisms and its bio accumulation in the food chain especially can be dangerous to the human and animal health. The lead accumulation and exposure by human populations through contaminant environment and food chain has been reported widely all over the world. The lead is the well known environmental contaminants which may be deposited on the surfaces and then adsorbed into the tissues of crops and vegetables. Plants can uptake lead by absorbing them from deposits on the parts of the plants exposed to the polluted environment as well as from contaminated soil. In this study we have analyzed the lead contamination in different environmental components like water, soil, road dust, plants, vegetables and fishes in and around Kolkata metropolitan city. There are considerable amount of lead found in every environmental component and its management and remedial measures should be urgently needed for better environmental health in urban environment.
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