A Survey of the Content of Some Heavy Metals in Soil and Corn Grain in the Pond and Lower Green River Bottoms

Corn is intensively grown along the Green and Pond Rivers in McLean, Hopkins, and Webster Counties, Kentucky, representing a major source of income to producers in those areas. However, producers in McLean County have experienced poorer corn production than expected for many years. This has been observed more on the Pond River bottoms and the Green River bottoms below the confluence of the Pond than upstream on the Green above the Pond. Some producers have speculated that their poor production may be associated with chemical pollution from the Pond River and/or nearby industrial sources. On this basis, an assumption was made that if chemical pollution did occur, it would be most noticeable in fields which commonly overflow with water originating upstream on the Green or Pond Rivers. Further, a second assumption was made that bottom land sites which less frequently overflow, would have lower concentrations of chemical pollutants