Abstract
The present study is an attempt to assess the heavy metal pollution in the effluent of Orient Paper Mill (OPM), Amalai around the mill (Zone-1) and Son River water nearby village area (Zone-2). System to identify the major point source of metal pollution ten sampling stations were selected under two zones during January to June2014. The heavy metals Fe, Hg, Cd, Pb, Cr and Zn were determined using inductive coupled plasma (ICP) and Atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). Except metals other chemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), turbidity, total hardness (TA), total dissolved solid (TDS), total suspended solid (TSS) were also analyzed.The results demonstrated that two of six heavy metals including Hg and Cd exceeded permissible safe levels as established by Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS2012). Only low levels of Zn, Pb, Cr, and Fe were detected. The highest average metal concentration occurred in effluent of OPM,Amalai with up to 0.057mg/L for Hg, 0.086 mg/L for Cd, 0.021 mg/L for Pb, and 0.150 mg/L for Zn. Heavy metals, especially Hg and Cd were found to be an important problem to these environments.
