Hyderabad: National Institute of Oceanography scientist Dr Nagender Nath said thermal power plants could be the source of mercury contamination in Krishna and Godavari rivers.
“Thermal power plants are probably the source of mercury contamination but we still have to analyse the samples for the source,” he said.
Lead and cadmium contamination was also the highest in the Godavari and Krishna rivers. The Pollution Load Index, which is used to evaluate contamination levels and pollution in coastal and estuarine sediments, was found to be higher in these two river estuaries.
Scientists have not pinned down the cause of the pollution to a particular source.
“We are still analysing the source. We can’t say for sure that it is entirely due to industrial pollution,” Dr Nagendra Nath said.
Scientists are also trying to find out the proportion of the trace metals that can enter the life cycle “We are assessing how much of it is bio-available. Let’s say there is 10 ppm of lead, only about 5 ppm might be bio-available and entering the life cycle,” Dr Nath said.
