Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF HEAVY METALS IN COASTAL WATER OF SUEZ BAY, NORTHERN RED SEA COAST

Mohannad M. Garoub and Hamdy E. Nour

Abstract

A variety of environmental indicators and multivariate statistical analyses were utilized to assess levels of heavy metal (HM) concentrations and to identify potential sources of pollution in coastal seawater samples collected from Suze Bay, Red Sea, Egypt. To accomplish this goal, the levels of HMs were assessed at 18 sites spanning across the majority of the Bay. The results revealed that the average concentration of various HMs (g/l) was 3.404 for Ni, 2.73 for Cr, 2.72 for Fe, 1.74 for Zn, 1.05 for Cu, 0.85 for Mn, 0.224 for Pb, 0.193 for Cd, 0.054 for Hg and 0,038 for Co. Based on the values of HM evolution index (HEI), 83.3 % of the surface water samples were categorized as having low pollution (HEI < 5), while 16.7 % showed moderate pollution levels. Furthermore, the heavy metal pollution index (HPI) and the degree of water contamination (Cd) indicated low contamination levels, which reported that the water of Suez Bay is no threat to human health. The multivariate analysis suggested that the sources of the investigated metals were in some samples a combination of both human-related and natural factors. Natural sources are the weathering of rocks surrounding the area, while anthropogenic sources are associated with industrial and urbanization activities in the vicinity of the investigated bay. Importantly, these average HM concentrations were found to be within the maximum allowable limits set by the World Health Organization.