Assessment of heavy metals concentration in water and Tengra fish (Mystus vittatus) of Surma River in Sylhet region of Bangladesh

Abstract

The study was carried out to assess the concentration of heavy metals in water and Tengra fish (Mystus vittatus) of the Surma River, the largest water basin ecosystem covering the north-eastern parts of Bangladesh. Water and Tengra fish (M. vittatus) samples were collected from a total of six sampling stations in which three sampling stations were in Sylhet district and the rest three were in Sunamganj district. Samples were collected from February 2017 to June 2017 on a monthly basis. Water and Tengra fish (M. vittatus) samples were analyzed for the detection of heavy metals viz., lead (Pb), chromium (Cr) and cadmium (Cd) concentrations. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry was used for the detection of heavy metals after digestion of the samples. Pb and Cr were detected from both water and Tengra fish (M. vittatus) samples collected from all the six sampling stations of Sylhet and Sunamganj district. But, Cd was not found both in water and Tengra fish (M. vittatus) during the study period. This study concluded that the detected concentrations of metals (Pb and Cr) in the studied Tengra fish (M. vittatus) muscles were accepted by the international legislation limits and are safe for human consumption. But in water, Pb is the only metal that potentially poses the ecological risk to the water body as it exceeds the acceptance level recommended by World Health Organization (WHO). Consequently, close monitoring of metals pollution of the Surma River is recommended with a view to minimizing the health risk of the population that depend on the river for their water and fish supply.