Environmental contamination by heavy metals and assessing the impact of inhabitant microalgae in bioremediation: a case study of urban water of Yamuna River, India

ABSTRACT

A study assessed the presence of heavy metals (HMs) in Yamuna River water across different locations, seasons, and years, while also examining the efficacy of resident microalgae in HMs removal. High HM concentrations were found, with peak levels in Faridabad during the summer of 2022: Cr(II) at 132.064 µg/L, Pb(II) at 93.034 µg/L, Cu(II) at 218.6 µg/L, and Ni(II) at 347.1 µg/L. In Kalindi Kunj during the same season and year, As(lII) measured 8.05 µg/L and Cd(II) reached 31.587 µg/L. The study identified microalgae species proficient in HMs removal. Scenedesmus sp. achieved 76.11% Cr(II) and 59.83% Pb(II) removal, while Klebsormidium sp. displayed the highest rates with 78.49% Cd(II) and 64.00% As(lII) removal. Oocystis sp. and Chlorococcum sp. absorbed up to 86.53% Cu(II) and 58.54% Ni(II), respectively. This research highlights the variability of HMs in Yamuna River water and the potential of resident microalgae for HMs remediation.

KEYWORDS:

• Heavy metals
• health risk
• Phycoremediation
• water
• microalgae

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Declaration of authors’ contributions

DK, SA, and DS have a role in the design of the study, performed experiments, analysis, and interpretation of data, and all authors contributed to manuscript writing and approved the final manuscript.