STM Article Repository

The aim of this study is to find out the water and soil quality of Uttara Export Processing Zone (UEPZ).
Five heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Mn, Pb, Cr) were selected to assess water quality of UEPZ and two
indices such as heavy metal pollution index (HPI) and contamination index (Cd) were selected to
evaluate the impact on water. Pollution risks of heavy metal in the soil were evaluated by method of
geological acumination index and Pollution load index (PLI) for seven soil samples. UEPZ is the
important industrial belt of the northern region. It is an important issue to find out the environmental
impact of UEPZ. The results showed that the concentrations of heavy metals in water samples were
within the permissible limits of WHO drinking water quality. HPI of water samples in three sites were
20.57 which was lower than 100 the critical value for drinking water. Both results show the region is
moderately or slightly polluted. For soil the geological evaluation of the cumulative index results
showed that the contamination degree of 4 heavy metals follows the sequence of Mn > Zn > Fe > Cu.
Then the results of PLI of seven soil sample are 1.474 > 1.398 > 1.372 > 1.308 > 1.302 > 1.290 >
1.289. Both results show the soil sample area were unpolluted to moderately polluted. Finally, an
overall impact of UEPZs environment is also discussed in this paper. This paper will help the authority
to take proper steps for minimizing the soil and water pollution. The legal agreements and laws should
be stronger to save the environment. The environment comes first, so sustainable development is
mandatory.