Lake contamination by accumulation of heavy metal ions in Eichhornia crassipes: a case study of Rankala Lake, Kolhapur (India).

The absorption of heavy metals into biomaterial derived from the plant Eichhornia crassipes was investigated. The root, stem and leaf samples of the plant collected from the Rankala Lake of Kolhapur city (India) were analyzed for the metal ion concentrations using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. It has been observed that in root, stem and leaf, Pb ions get absorbed, while the extent of absorption for each element found different in the parts analyzed. In root, the order for metal ion absorption found to be Fe>Mn>Cu>Zn>Cr>Pb>Ni>Co>Cd ions. Thus, it is clear that Eichhornia crassipes absorbs heavy metal ions and can be used for minimizing the pollution taking place due to toxic metal ions in the effluents from various industries.