Urmila Devi B, Ramesh Thatikunta, Prabhu Prasadini and Ajaz all Khan
Abstract
Musi river water finds its use as irrigation source for vegetables and grassses grown in and around Hyderabad city. River water these days has been polluted with heavy load of industrial pollutants and sewage which contains heavy metals. Possibility exists for the entry of heavy metals into food chain. Eleven locations were chosen for the study which represented discharge points and these points were spatially represented using GIS tools. Among the micronutrients studied, Iron and Manganese were high and beyond the permissible limit in water, soil and plant samples.Water and soil in upstream locations, and paragrass samples at all locations contained heavy metal Pb in more than the permissible limit. In addition, Cd content in water (0.01-0.03 mg and paragrass (3.47-4.70 mg L in all locations and in soils at two locations (0.66-3.11 mg L-') was beyond permissible limit.Water being the primary carrier, it is recom- mended to treat water before its use for irrigation purposes.