STM Article Repository

Vembanad Lake is facing gross pollution problem mainly due to the release of untreated effluents from industries and domestic sectors. The increasing concentrations of pesticides, heavy metals and trace metals in Vembanad Lake reached hazardous levels, which may cause major health risk to humans through the trophic transfer. In this review paper, a sincere effort is made to bring forward the various studies on heavy and trace metals, conducted in the Vembanad Lake especially in Cochin backwater system, by various researchers during the past few decades. A number of metals are present in higher concentrations in various areas of the estuarine region.Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Lead (Pb) and Mercury (Hg) are the most reporting metals from the backwater system. Selenium (Se) and Nickel (Ni) are the least found trace metals.