Preliminary communication

Impact of floods on increased heavy metal content in the inundation area of the Drava river in the Varaždin county

Igor Tošić orcid.org/0000-0001-7213-8533 ; Hrvatske vode, Varaždin, Hrvatska
Dinko Vujević
Zvjezdana Stančić ; Geotehnički fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska

Abstract

Intensely developing industry and agriculture as well as urbanization have led to excessive heavy metal emissions into the environment that, due to their bioaccumulation properties, may have a negative impact on all components of the environment. The paper explores the presence of certain heavy metals in the soil and plant samples taken along the Drava River course in northeast Croatia. The possibilities of heavy metal removal from the soil are briefly considered and proposed. In order to determine the actual presence of accumulated heavy metals in the Drava riverbank area, soil and plant sampling was carried out at seven Varaždin County locations in April 2014. These areas are occasionally exposed to flooding by the Drava River, which includes its bedload polluted with heavy metals that entered the river consequential to anthropogenic and natural processes in the upstream Drava sections in Slovenia and Austria. The concentrations of arsenic (As), copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), chrome (Cr), cobalt (Co), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) have been determined in the plant and soil samples. The obtained results indicate that the concentrations of certain heavy metals exceed the legally prescribed maximum permissible concentrations (MPCs) in some locations. The MPC exceedances were determined for cadmium, lead, zinc, copper and nickel. The plants fleabane, dandelion, goldenrod and alfalfa showed very good phytoaccumulation, phytoexploitation and indicator potentials for further observation and exploration.

Keywords

heavy metals; Drava River; floods; environmental pollution; phytoaccumulation

Hrčak ID:

232909

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/232909

Publication date:

13.1.2020.

Article data in other languages: croatian german

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