Study on Water Pollution in a Shipbreaking Site of Chittagong

Abstract

Ship breaking industry is one of the growing industries in Bangladesh. Many ship breaking yards are situated at the coastal region of Chittagong who dump their wastes directly into the sea water and pollute the environment. This study has been conducted to detect the presence and concentration of heavy metals (Pb, Mn, As) in the water, sediment and organisms (fish and crab) from two locations. Samples were collected from Bashbaria Kasiyarpar Sandwip Ferryghatand which was the control site and R. Rahman ship breaking yard, generally considered as Shitakundu ship breaking yard which is the polluted site. The ccollected samples were later tested in laboratory using EZ Arsenic High Range Test Kit, Manganese test kit from Hanna Instrument and the presence of Lead was tested using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) technique in SGS laboratory. Samples were tested once in monsoon season and again in post-monsoon for finding the fluctuation in the heavy metal concentration. The major findings of this study include heavy concentration of Lead in sediment samples and in crab and detection of Manganese in the water samples. Banshbaria Kasiyarpar Sandwip Ghat was initially considered as control site but after the experiment, it was found that the samples of this site have higher concentration of heavy metals during monsoon.