Evaluation of toxicity level of the polluted eco-system for an industrial city of Pakistan

The indiscriminate discharge of untreated industrial effluents and solid wastes into the open environment poses a serious threat to the ecosystem. Gujranwala is an industrial city of Pakistan wherein a large number of different industries are situated and majority of them are not equipped with proper recycling or effluent treatment plants. Unfortunately, untreated industrial effluents are locally used for the irrigation purposes which may result in higher concentrations of toxic metals in the crops and vegetables. Therefore, prime objective of the present study was to determine concentrations of toxic metals in the polluted soils, vegetables and crops grown in the vicinity of industrial areas using neutron activation analysis technique. The results obtained showed higher values of toxic metals in the studied samples. The observed highest concentration of As (0.94 ± 0.06) in spinach, Br (69 ± 9) in turnip, Co (0.83 ± 0.01) in millet, Cr (51.7 ± 4.2) in wheat, Mn (76.2 ± 7.3) in tomato, Sb (0.5 ± 0.06) in rice, Cl (31698 ± 3921) and Se (3.4 ± 0.4) in carrot. These values are higher than those reported in the literature.