2012 International Conference on
Environmental Quality Concern, Control and Conservation
Investigation of the Heavy Metals
Contaminations in Water, Sediment and
Tilapia in the Hou-Jing River
Hau-Ying Lee*, Chun-Lan Huang, Chitsan Lin, Huei-Ya Huang
Graduate student of the Department of Marin Environmental
Engineering, National Kaohsiung Marine University,
Kaohsiung 81157, Taiwan
May 25-26, 2012
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Outline
1. Introduction
2. Sampling and Analysis
3. Materials and Methods
4. Results and Discussion
5. Conclusions and Suggestions
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Introduction
The Houjin River is suffering pollution from the
wastewaters of the five major industrial parks,
including the Dashe Industrial Park, Renwu Industrial
Park, Nantze Export Processing Zone, Formosa
Plastics Renwu Plant, and Chinese Petroleum
Corporation Kaohsiung Refinery, as well as the
serious heavy metal pollution.
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Due to the toxicity, persistence and bioaccumulation
contained in heavy metals, heavy metal pollution is a
highly significant issue for contaminants in soil,
sediments, water, and biota; which not only causes
significant damages to the ecosystems but also leads
hazards to human health through the bioaccumulation
effects in the food chain.
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Source of Heavy Metal in Wastewater
Pollution of Houjin River
The possible main source of contamination in heavy
metal pollution of Houjin River, which could come
from the 305 metal surface processing industries in
nearby rivers as well as some small factories without
business registration and regulations.
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Research Purpose
Discuss the heavy metal content and distribution of
water, sediments and Tilapia in upstream, middle
and lower reaches of the Houjin River.
Discuss the heavy metal correlation between the
water, sediment and organisms in Houjin River.
Discuss the level of heavy metal contamination of the
overall environment in Houjin River.
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Sampling Planning
Sampling Time
6 sampling from March to November, 2010.
Sampling Site
Houjin River Basin：Bakong Bridge, Dehui Bridge, Xingzhong Bridge
Monitoring Items
Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Nickel, Lead, Zinc, Mercury
Analytical Methods
NIEA M104.01C (Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Emission
Spectrometry)
NIEA M318.00C (Thermal Decomposition, Amalgamation, and
Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry)
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}
Dehuei Bridge
Xingzhong Bridge
Bakong Bridge
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Sampling Method
Water：Refer to NIEA W104.51C of
Environmental Analysis Laboratory, EPA,
using stringed bucket to take surface river
water.
Sediment：Refer to NIEA S104.30C of
Environmental Analysis Laboratory, EPA,
using stainless steel shovel to dig
sediment in 0~15 cm, whereas three
samples are taken from each test station
and the sediments acquired are mixed into
one single sample.
Tilapia ：Capture using hand net.
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Pre-Treatment – Water (Arsenic, Cadmium,
Chromium, Copper, Nickel, Lead, Zinc)
Mix the water sample acidified for preservation and pour
100mL water sample into a 250mL beaker.
Refer to NIEA
W311.51
Add 2 mL (1:1) of Nitric acid and 1 mL (1:1) of hydrochloric acid
Place the beaker on top of the heating plate and control the
temperature at 85 ℃to heat.
Heat until the volume becomes approximately 20 mL and cover the
watch glass. Continue heating under reflux for 30 minutes.
The water sample after digestion process diluted to 50 mL
quantitatively with deionized water .
Particles un-dissolved after putting aside applied with standing
natural precipitation or centrifugation.
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Pre-Treatment – Sediment (Arsenic, Cadmium,
Chromium, Copper, Nickel, Lead, Zinc)
Remove the sample and place into the plastic beaker to undergo
freeze-drying
Refer to the
3050B method
formulated by
the UPA of U.S.
Take 0.5g of sample and place into the polypropylene plastic
digestive tube of digestion vessels.
Add 5 mL of H2O2 and 5 mL of HNO3, cover the watch glass and
heat the sample in temperature of 95℃ under reflux for 10 minutes
before cooling the sample .
Add 2.5 mL of HNO3, cover the watch glass and continue heating
under reflux for 30 minutes.
Evaporate the sample until 5 mL, cool the sample and add 1.0 mL
of H2O and 1.5 mL of H2O2. Heat the sample to 95 ℃ and allow the
sample liquid to evaporate until 2.5 mL
Add 5mL of HCl, cover the watch glass and heat the sample in
temperature of 95℃ under reflux for 15 minutes, then cool.
Finally dilute the sample and filter quantitatively to 50 mL
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Pre-Treatment- Tilapia (Arsenic, Cadmium,
Chromium, Copper, Nickel, Lead, Zinc)
Cut open the organism and remove the Tilapia for freeze-drying
Take 0.5g of sample and add to the digestive tube. Add 8 mL of
concentrated nitric acid.
Cover with the lid and place into the digestion vessels.
Temperature1
Heating time (min)
Retaining time (min)
45
60
120
65
30
30
95.5
15
120
Add deionized water to the digestive tube quantitatively to 50 mL
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Analysis equipment
Digestion vessels ：
SYSTEMATIC DS-360
Inductively Coupled Plasma –
Optical Emissions
Spectrometer, ICP-OES:
Perkin-Elmer Optima 2100DV,
with a auto sampler(ASX-520)
Mercury Analyzer:
NIPPON INSTRUMENTS
CORPORATION MA-2000,
with a auto sampler (BC-1)
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Exceeding Rates
Compare the use of various heavy metal concentration with our regulations to
identify the rate exceeding our regulation standards to confirm the
contamination status of Houjin River.
Apply water quality standards for surface water to the water as comparison
standards.
Compare the sediment with the standards of agricultural land for food crops.
Compare the organisms with our health standards for aquatic animals.
The calculation method is shown as follows：
Exceeding
Rate=
Number of Samples Exceeding our
regulations
Total number of samples
×100%
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Heavy metals in water
Exceeding
Rates:44.4%
Exceeding
Rates:66.7%
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Exceeding
Rates:27.8%
Exceeding
Rates:16.7%
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Heavy metals in Sediment
Exceeding
Rates:5.56%
Exceeding
Rates:5.56%
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Exceeding
Rates:22.2%
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Enrichment Factor
Enrichment factor is an important parameter for evaluating
the influence on the degree of heavy metal enrichment in
soil and sediment from human.
The degree of contamination in the sediment of river can
be evaluated using the enrichment factor (EF) (Taylor,
1964).
𝑀𝑖
𝐹𝑒𝑖
𝐸𝐹 =
𝑀𝑐
𝐹𝑒𝑐
Mi：refers to the concentration value of certain metal in the sample.
Fei：refers to the concentration value of iron in the sample.
Mc：refers to the concentration value of certain metal in the crust.
Fec：refers to the average concentration value for iron in the crust.
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Heavy metals in Tilapia
Exceeding
Rates:34.8%
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Exceeding
Rates:33.7%
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Bioconcentration Factor (BCF)
The magnification of the concentration of chemical substance
in the water yielded using the bioconcentration factor in an
organism.
Under a steady status, the ratio between the concentration of
chemical substance inside the organism and the concentration
of the chemical substances in the water.
BCF=
Cb
Cw
Cb：Concentration of heavy metal in the organism.
Cw：Concentration of heavy metal in water.
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The Bioconcentration Factors of Various
Heavy Metal in the Organism
BCF≧500
The chemical substance cannot be easily decomposed in the environment
or may contaminate the environment or harm the health of human body
due to bioaccumulation, bioconcentration and biotransformation.
BCF<500
The chemical substance is regarded as low bioconcentration capability.
Max
As
Cd
Cr
Cu
Hg
Ni
Pb
Zn
161
105
172
836
311
533
352
8190
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Conclusions
The water of Houjin River contains concentration of heavy
metals, namely Cadmium, Copper, Mercury, and Zinc
exceeding the surface water quality standards of our State;
which exceeding rates are: Cadmium 44.4%, Copper 66.7%,
Mercury 27.8%, and Zinc 16.7%, that merit paying attention to.
The maximum value of Cadmium, Copper and Zinc detected
from the sediment of Houjin River have far exceeded the
regulatory standards by multiples (4.28 times, 2.5 times and 4.5
times), whereas the Cadmium and Copper have exceeding rate
of 5.56% and Zinc 22.2% respectively. Arsenic is not detected
in the sediment of Houjin River.
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Suggestions
To identify the correct position of contaminating source, the
sampling site should be deployed intensively with long-term
monitoring required to acquire the source of contamination
precisely.
To acquire the metal accumulation in the fish bodies, longterm monitoring is required on the heavy metal content in the
various aquatic lives under the aquatic ecosystems, thereby to
acquire the accumulating status and concentration of heavy
metals in fish bodies.
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