Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

DISTRIBUTION OF HEAVY METALS IN SOILS IRRIGATED WITH MIXED INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENTS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH SOIL PROPERTIES

G.L. Maliwal, K.P. Patel, K.C. Patel and N.N. Patel

Abstract

Effect of I 7-20 years continuous application of mixed industrial effluent water were studied on the spacial distribution of DTPA extractable metals in soils of Koyali, Umraya, Ekalbara and Karkhadi villages (Vadodara district).The contents varied from 2.70 to 6.70, 11.12 to 34.56, 33.00 to 69.96,2.68 to 8.12, 0.04 to 0.08, 0.26 to 0.52,0.60 to 1.16, 0.42 to 1.58 & 0.01 to 0.06 ppm for Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu, Cd, Pb, Co, Ni and Cr respectively which accumulated more in the surface soils and in general decreased with depth.The 1.08 ppm Pb was observed even up to 2 km laterally from the channel. The DTPA-extractable Mn, Ni and Cd contents in mixed effluent irrigated soils increased with soil organic carbon (r=0.626, 0.722 and 0.552) while Mn decreased with pH (r = —0.478) and Cu with calcite contents (r = — 0.546).