The Sources, Toxicity, Determination of Heavy Metals and Their Removal Techniques from Drinking Water
Muhammad Amjad, Shabbir Hussain, Kashif Javed, Abdul Rehman Khan, M. Shahjahan
Abstract
Heavy metals such as Chromium (Cr), Cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), Arsenic (As), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Aluminum (Al), Barium (Ba), Calcium (Ca), Magnesium( Mg), Lead (Pb), Manganese (Mn), Silver( Ag), Sodium (Na), and Selenium (Se) their excess contamination in drinking and irrigation water causes toxicity in living organisms. Their major sources are from different industries as dying, textiles, leather, mining, pesticides, plastic, wood, and pharmaceuticals. The industrial processes release these metals in air, surface water, soil, groundwater, and crops and ultimately target human beings. Groundwater contamination occurs through the anthropogenic activities by man-made products such as gasoline, oil, road salts, mining, pesticides, and fertilizers, etc. discharge into groundwater. Copper, Zinc, and Selenium are heavy metals that are needed in trace amounts for humans. On the other hand, some other metals like Lead, Arsenic, and Mercury are extremely dangerous for human beings even if consumed in small amounts. There is a big challenge to remove heavy metals from drinking water. Different diseases like nervous system damage, kidney failure, blood pressure, hypertension, diabetes, growth inhibition are mostly caused by their contamination in drinking water. Various modern and conventional techniques are used for the determination of heavy metals and water treatment.