Evaluation of heavy metal pollution and its ecological risk in water from the Sasolburg region

Abstract: Pollution of heavy metals is a worldwide problem, and the evaluation of heavy metals and their exposure to the environment has attracted international attention due to the health risk towards plants, humans, and animals. The accumulation of these metals within the environment has increased due to anthropogenic activities such as fertilizers and pesticides, mining, and industrial development, among others. Thus, it is crucial that research should be conducted on the metals to understand their mobility, bioavailability, and toxicity in sediments and water. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to determine the concentration levels of trace/heavy metals in sediments and surface waters (for domestic and farming use) from Sasolburg (Free State, South Africa). Inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectrometry (ICP – OES) was used to quantify the concentrations of Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Sr, Tl, and V. For the bioavailability and determination of trace/heavy metals in sediments single extraction technique and pseudo-total digestion was used. To help evaluate the potential health risk of trace and heavy metals in sediments and water, environmental assessments were utilized such as enrichment factor (Ef), contamination factor (Cf), geo-accumulation index (Igeo), and pollution load index (PLI) to name a few...M.Sc. (Chemistry