Heavy metal contamination in agriculture along rail tracks in Mumbai

Heavy metal contaminations of vegetables cannot be underestimated as these are important components for diet. In Mumbai almost all the farms are closer to railway tracks along the Harbour, Central and Western Railways; local farmers-in the absence of proper irrigation facilities use water from the drains to grow their crops. This Untreated sewage water increases heavy metals in soil and crops along with pathogens. Utilization of sewage water containing heavy metals due to small scale industries in urban areas deserves special attention as it makes environment quite unsuitable for human and animal health and growth of plants. This book deals with the presence of heavy metals i.e. copper, lead, chromium, cadmium in the vegetables, water and soil. Atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used to determine heavy metal content in vegetable samples like Spinacia oleracea and Amaranthus caudatus. The mean concentrations of copper, lead and cadmium in all the samples were more than the maximum permitted concentrations while there was no evidence of chromium(Cr) contamination. Physico-chemical parameters of water were also studied as it exceeds the drinking and irrigation standards.