Chapter 5

Conclusion and Recommendation

5.1 Conclusion

The overall objective of the study was to provide and develop a better understanding of the
heavy metals responsible behind the pollution scenario of water of Turag river and soil ,
agricultural land and vegetables quality of Tongi Industrial Area .The major objectives of the
research project are to collect and assess the quality of Turag river water and soil of Tongi
industrial area, to overview the present water, soil, agricultural vegetable quality of that area
through quality analysis and soil-partitioning, to determine the heavy metal concentration
transfer rate from soil into vegetable sample and finally to assess the health impacts from the
heavy metal consumption of the local people.

This chapter summarizes the major conclusions drawn from this study, and also presents
recommendations for future studies. The major conclusions of the study are as follows:

1. From the observed physicochemical properties and calculated value of Water Quality
Index, it can be concluded that the Turag river water is extremely polluted due to
discharge of industrial effluents containing heavy metals. Not only the river water in
Turag is gradually becoming destructive but also it affects through soil, agricultural land
and mostly to the living habitants.
2. From the experimental data we obtained, the calculated values of WQI of the Turag river
at most of the stations were >90 to ≥ 100. The highest (>100) values of WQI of the Turag
river were found in the station 6 indicating the severe pollution of that sampling site. This
may be due to the presence of large number of industries in Tongi area. This water
quality rating study clearly shows that water of the Turag river is extremely polluted and
it was unsuitable for human uses.
3. From the experimental data, it is visible that the value of Kd for Cadmium is very high
and the mobility is low. For the Chromium, the Kd value ranges from 18.03 to 35.26
mL/g. The value is very low which is indicating high mobility of Chromium throughout
 soil. According to the Kd values for Pb, values range from 23.84 to 143.13 mL/g. High
value 143.13 mL/g indicating comparatively low mobility of soil.
4. Form the data, the geochemical index values range from 3.29 to 7.80 for Cadmium (Cd),
-1.53 to -1.87 for Cr and -2.25 to -2.89 for Pb. It shows extremely contaminated soil for
cadmium.
5. From the collected data, the contamination factor is very high for cadmium which
indicates that the soil is highly contaminated by cadmium concentration. Lower values
for Chromium and Lead are indicating moderately contaminated and low enrichment of
soil.
6. From the data, PLI (pollution load index) is higher than 1 for all of the soil sample which
indicates that the soil around Turag river is highly polluted with the heavy metal
concentration. The highest value for PLI is 6.397 which exceeds standard value.
7. Higher values of Transfer factor of heavy metals indicate higher mobility in the soil and
low retention of heavy metals in soil. The values of Cr and Pb are ranging from 0.067-
0.195 and 0.084-0.159 which is lower that Cd (0.028 to 0.599).
8. The calculated values of DMI (Daily Metal Intake) for Cd, Cr and Pb exceeds the
permissible standard value. The attached table shows that the concentration of heavy
metals is higher in leafy vegetables.

Recommendations

For making the study more efficient, the following recommendations should be followed:

1. WQI will be more efficient if variations season’s data was taken time to time.
Physicochemical parameters such as total hardness, fluorine, alkalinity are yet to be
measured for further study.
2. As we observed, the effluents from the industries discharged directly to the Turag river
without any proper treatment. Definite measures should be taken against it to minimize
the overall pollution scenario.
3. Heavy metals such as As, Mg, Cu, Fe, Ni, Hg, K etc. are yet to be measured to complete
the total assessment scenario.