Khan, Bilquees: Heavy Metals in Aquatic Food Chain, Upper Lake Bhopal, India

Availability of adequate water supply in terms of both quality and quantity is essential human existence. Global industrialization has created the problem of air and water pollution. Discharge of large number of pollutants, especially heavy metals and pesticides in water has posed a threat to human life. The heavy metals reach the human body through food chain and produce a number of health hazards. The determination of metal ion concentration in natural water systems has received increasing attention for monitoring environmental pollution due to the fact that metals are not biodegradable and find their way in food chain through a number of pathways and may accumulate in different organs of animals and human beings. Since the pollution of aquatic environment by heavy metals is an extremely important and serious problem, it has attracted the attention of scientists all over the world.