assessing humanhealth risk ofmetalaccumulations in a wild carp fish from selected sites of a riverloaded withmunicipal and industrialwastes

this 4x2 factorial study compared the effect of four sites (a=siphon as upstream, andb=shahdera, c=sunder and d= balloki as 3 downstream sites) during low and high flow seasons of river ravion metal cconcentrations in muscles from cirrhinus (c) mrigala, a bottom feeder carp. while weight andlength of studied specimens did not differ significantly (p>0.05). overall metal accumulations appeared in theorder of calcium (ca) > sodium (na) > potassium (k) > magnesium (mg) > zinc (zn) > iron (fe) > manganese(mn) > copper (cu) > chromium (cr) > lead (pb) > nickel (ni) > cadmium (cd). the sampling sites weresignificantly different (p b > d > a, except mg, pb, mn, ni, zn and fe. the macro metal contents, except k and trace metals exceptcd were significantly higher during low flow than the high flow season. the bioaccumulation of cd, cr and mnwere greater than those permissible for human consumption by the who standards. the most alarmingresults contradict the views of local fish consumers that riverine fish are more healthy and valuable than thepond fish. this fish species inhabiting the downstream sites was more polluted and may be a source of risk toconsumer health. regular monitoring is obligatory to evaluate eco-health of the river ravi by choosing perhapsc. mrigala as a bio-indicator which might provide reliable measurements to frequently assess environmentalquality of rivers.