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Environmental evaluation of Ismailia Canal water and sediment, Egypt

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 Evaluation of some Heavy Metals in Water and Sediment of El-Sharkawia
Canal, River Nile, Egypt
Mohamed H. Abdo1*, Mohamed E. Goher1, Alaa E. Amin2 and Amira A. El-Degwy1
1- National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF).

2- Faculty of Science, Benha University.

*Corresponding author, Email: mh_omr@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
El-Sharkawia Canal is an irrigation canal located at El-Qualubia governorate and receiving
water directly from River Nile. 40 Water and 36 Sediment samples were collected seasonally
from November, 2013 to August, 2014. Nine heavy metals; Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr, Pb and
Cd were assessed. The concentration levels of the measured metals in water samples were found
to be Fe; 125.8-1478.47, Mn; 1.8-119, Zn; 1.6-40.4, Cu; 0.6-4.12, Ni; 1.75-20.2, Co; 0.8-13.6,
Cr; 5.2-25.2, Pb; 3.4-32.6 and Cd; ND-1.21 µg/l. On the other hand, in the sediment samples
they varied in the ranges; 11.20-30.64 mg/g, 152.02-677.11, 50.2-248.53, 20.9-111.11, 23.4-
128.22, 0.3-27, 11.7-90.6, 6-102.1 and ND-0.88 µg/g for Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr, Pb and Cd,
respectively. The obtained results revealed that, the concentrations of Zn, Cu, Co, Cr, Ni and Cd
in water were within the permissible limits, but Fe, Mn and Pb were higher than the permissible
limits according to WHO, (2011). For sediment, most of the metals were higher than the
permissible limits of U.S. EPA, (1999) and there is no spatial significant difference for most of
the measured metals.

Key words: Egypt, El-Sharkawia Canal, Heavy metals, River Nile, Sediment, Water.

1- INTRODUCTION
El-Sharkawia Canal is an irrigation freshwater canal originates from the River Nile at
Shoubra El-Kheima region, 12 km upstream the bifurcation of the Nile at El-Qanater El-Khairia
(Shebin El-Qanater General Administration of Irrigation). It passes through El-Qualubia
governorate to about 30 km with average 2-4 m depth (Bedair, 2006). The total surface area is
about 142,000 feddans with 5-20 m width (Qalyub General Administration of Irrigation). It is
one of the main sources of irrigation and drinking water in El-Qualubia governorate, in addition,
it is considered as an important source for fishing in the surrounding area. Its direct irrigation
reins is 1208 feddans, but the total irrigation reins is 162,700 feddans (Benha General

1
Administration of Irrigation). The average water flow is 232 m3/sec, with an average discharge
of 3.3 million m3/day (39.19 m3/sec) directly to the canal (Heba et al., 2013).

"Heavy metal" is a general collective term, which applies to the group of metals and
metalloids with atomic density greater than 5000 kg m3-, or 5 times more than water. Although
some of them act as essential micro-nutrients for living beings, at higher concentrations they can
lead to severe poisoning. In the environment, the heavy metals are generally more persistent and
stable than organic contaminants such as pesticides or petroleum byproducts and are non
biodegradable. The environmental pollution by heavy metals comes from anthropogenic sources
such as smelters, mining, power stations and the application of pesticides containing metal,
fertilizer and sewage sludge and the irresponsible disposal of wastes by various industries. They
can become mobile in soils depending on soil pH and their speciation (Meghraj and Puchooa,
2013). Heavy metals are regarded as serious pollutants for aquatic ecosystem because of their
environmental persistence and toxicity effects on living organisms (Khalil et al., 2007). In the
aquatic environment, the trace elements are partitioned among various environmental
components (water, suspended solids, sediments and biota) (Shakweer and Abbas, 2005). Heavy
metals are of high ecological significance since they are non-biodegradable and are not removed
from water as a result of self-purification. Once they are discharged into water bodies, they are
adsorbed on sediment particles, accumulate in reservoirs and enter the food chain (Loska and
Wiechula, 2003). The elevation of metal levels in a reservoir is shown mainly by an increase in
their concentrations in the bottom sediments. Their occurrence in the environment results
primarily from anthropogenic activities. Chopra et al., (2009) & Jumbe and Nandini, (2009),
concluded that, heavy metals are widespread pollutants of great environmental concern as they
are non-degradable, toxic and persistent with serious ecological ramifications on aquatic
ecology. Lokeshwari and Chandrappa, (2006), reported that, since sediments play a very
important role in the physicochemical and ecological dynamics, any change in toxic
concentrations of heavy metal residues on the sediments will affect the natural aquatic life
support systems. In natural aquatic systems, the geochemical processes responsible for the
exchange of metals at the water-sediment interface are adsorption and precipitation. Osman and
Kloas, (2010), investigated the trace elements of the River Nile sediment and found that they
increased significantly (P < 0.05) from Aswan towards Damietta and Rosetta branches. Such
increase proves the presence of large quantities of organic and inorganic pollutants in Rosetta
and Damietta water. This was expected due to the fact that the water of such branches receives
high concentrations of organic and inorganic pollutants from industrial, domestic as well as
diffuse agricultural waste water. Abdo, (2004a), stated that, sediments act as traps, catching
pollutants as reservoirs capable of solubilizing some of their constituents under certain
environmental conditions. Thus, the analysis of Damietta branch sediment can be a good
indicator for water quality of the branch. Damietta branch receives a heavy load of different
effluents, e.g. industrial wastes from Talkha Power Station and Fertilizers Factory sewage, and
domestic wastes at El-Serw and Faraskour dam. The study was undertaken to reveal the
distribution and dynamics of Na+, K+, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd and organic matter. The results

2
indicated that the high concentration levels of the different elements were recorded at the areas
receiving different effluents, e.g. Talkha, El-Serw and Faraskour. In light of the obtained results,
the examined metals concentrations could be arranged in a descending order as follows: Na+ >
Fe > K+ > Mn > Cu > Zn > Pb > Cd. Abdo, (2013), determined the spatial and temporal
distribution of some trace metals (Fe, Mn, Zn. Cu, Pb, Cd, Al, As, Ba, Co, Cr, Ni, Sb, Se, Sn, Sr,
V and Mo) in water and surficial sediment of Ismailia Canal during drought period to assess the
environmental status of the water-sediment of the canal. He found that, there are some detected
trace elements in Ismailia Canal water e.g. Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, Al, As, Ba and not detected
elements e.g. Co, Ni, Cr, Sr, V, Sb, Sn and Mo during drought period at all collection sites. The
ranges of the detected trace elements were found to be: Fe; 0.19 – 0.30, Mn; 0.10 – 0.18, Zn;
0.040 – 0.095, Cu; 0.005 – 0.0161, Pb; 0.0150 – 0.029, Cd; 0.001 – 0.003, Al; < 0.1 – 0.8, As; <
0.01 – 0.100 and Ba; < 0.0005 – 0.002 mg/l during the investigation period at all sites. Bedair,
(2006), determined some heavy metals in El-Sharkawia canal water during four successive
seasons. The average concentration values of these elements are: Al; 0.411, Fe; 0.532, Sr; 0.271,
Cu; 0.094; Mn; 0.90, Zn; 0.049, Ba; 0.048, Pb; 0.021, V; 0.007 and Cr; 0.005 ppm, respectively.

The aim of the present study is to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of some
heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr, Pb and Cd) in water and sediment of El-Sharkawia
canal to assess the environmental status of the canal.

2- MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1- Area under investigation
El-Sharkawia Canal is considered as an important source for drinking water, so many water
plants are constructed on its banks, as in (Table 1).

Table (1): Water Plants along El-Sharkawia Canal.

Water Plants Intake m3/day* Uptake m3/day*
Shoubra El-Kheima water plant 460,000 400,000
Kafr Taha water plant 10,000 8200
Kafr Shebin water plant 10,000 7000
Shebin El-Qanater (1) water plant 10,000 7000
Shebin El-Qanater (2) water plant 4800 2000
Kafr El-Shubak water plant 2400 1800
El-Gaafrah water plant 10,000 8600
*Data collected from Shoubra El-Kheima and Benha water plants (personal communication).

The main sources of pollution, which potentially affect and deteriorate the water quality of El-
Sharkawia Canal include:-
1- The thermal pollution of Shoubra El-Kheima Electric Plant (at station 1) through its
cooling system.

3
 2- Wastes of the water plants and Shoubra El-Kheima Electric Power Station.
3- Industrial wastes discharged into the canal, as El-Nasr Company for Crystal and Glasses
Production (at station 1).
4- The slaughterhouse drainage (at station 2).
5- Agricultural and domestic sewage effluents.

2.2- Sampling locations

Ten subsurface water samples were collected seasonally from Autumn (2013) to Summer
(2014) along El-Sharkawia Canal (Figure 1). Details of the sampling locations with their
longitude and latitude are presented in (Table 2).

Fig. (1): Map of El-Sharkawia Canal illustrating the selected stations.

4
Table (2): Details, longitude and latitude of surface water sampling locations.
Stations Features of Stations Latitude Longitude
1 After Shoubra El-Kheima Electric Power Station 30o 07\ 35.50\\ 31o 14\ 06.50\\
Manti bridge (about 100 m downstream Shoubra
2 30o 08\ 12.30\\ 31o 14\ 11.40\\
El-Kheima water purification plant)
3 Omar bridge 30o 10\ 19.00\\ 31o 14\ 41.00\\
4 Kom Ishfin water plant ( at Kom Ishfin bridge) 30o 10\ 34.00\\ 31o 15\ 38.00\\
5 Al-Hazzaniyyah bridge 30o 13\ 42.70\\ 31o 17\ 30.90\\
6 Sindewah water plant 30o 15\ 15.00\\ 31o 18\ 16.90\\
7 Kafr Taha water plant 30o 16\ 06.80\\ 31o 18\ 13.30\\
8 Kafr Shebin water plant (at Al-Murayj bridge) 30o 17\ 01.20\\ 31o 18\ 48.30\\
9 Shebin El-Qanater (1) water plant 30o 18\ 28.40\\ 31o 19\ 06.80\\
10 Shebin El-Qanater (2) water plant 30o 19\ 06.80\\ 31o 18\ 51.60\\

2.3- Water analysis

Water samples were collected by a polyvinyl chloride Van Dorn plastic bottle (2L) and kept
in icebox on the spot, then preserved immediately after collection by acidifying with
concentrated nitric acid to (pH<2); by using 5 ml HNO3 for 1 litre water sample.

Heavy metals were extracted from water samples using nitric acid digestion method
according to American Public Health Association (APHA, 1998). The concentrations of heavy
metals were measured after digestion by conc. HNO3 using GBC atomic absorption reader model
SavantAA AAS with GF 5000 Graphite Furnace.

2.4- Sediment analysis

The sediment samples were collected superficially seasonally using Ekman Derdge, washed
with deionized water, oven dried at 105 oC and finally grinded in an agate mortar, then stored in
polyethylene bags. The sediment samples were digested according to Kouadiol and Trefry,
(1987). Total metals (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, Co, Pb and Cd) were measured using GBC atomic
absorption reader model SavantAA AAS with GF 5000 Graphite Furnace.

2.5- Statistical analysis

One-way ANOVA analysis was applied to identify significant differences for all metals
among different seasons and stations for water and sediment samples. Significance levels of tests
were taken as p<0.05 and highly significance as p<0.01.

Pearson's correlation analysis was performed to evaluate the potential relationships between
the measured variables.

5
 ANOVA tests and Correlation Coefficient (r) between the studied elements were
undertaken using the Excel-Stat software.

3- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The mean values and ranges of the obtained results are presented in Table 3.

3.1- Heavy metals in water

Heavy metals play a principal role in water pollution since they are toxic to aquatic animals
and may become a threat to man. The primary source of heavy metals in River Nile is the
discharge of domestic sewage, industrial wastes and washing of herbicides and pesticides of the
agricultural land (Ibrahim, 2007).

The seasonal variations of the studied trace metals in El-Sharkawia Canal water were found
to be in the ranges of: Fe (125.80-1478.47, 202.60-610.80, 177.60-892.00 and 159.00-858.54
µg/l), Mn (1.80-37.80, 37.56-79.60, 41.40-101.40 and 19.20-119.00 µg/l), Zn (1.60-13.40,
12.20-30.60, 4.00-22.00 and 13.00-40.40 µg/l), Cu (0.80-3.20, 1.07-4.12, 0.60-2.40 and 0.80-
3.07 µg/l), Ni (2.10-16.75, 1.75-15.90, 7.20-20.20 and 5.20-13.00 µg/l), Cr (6.17-13.28, 5.20-
25.20, 7.62-14.31 and 9.16-18.24 µg/l), Co (1.98-8.16, 1.80-10.00, 1.87-13.60 and 0.80-13.18
µg/l), Pb (7.14-32.60, 4.60-20.20, 6.12-21.74 and 3.40-31.12 µg/l) and Cd (ND-1.21, ND-1.00,
ND-0.83 and ND-1.02 µg/l) during autumn, winter, spring and summer seasons, respectively.

According to Ibrahim and Omar (2013), the seasonal variations of heavy metals content may
be attributed to the fluctuations of the amount of agricultural drainage water, illegal untreated
domestic sewage effluents and industrial wastes discharged into the canal. Domestic wastewaters
can contain fairly high concentrations of metals, such as Al, Ni, Cu, Fe, Pb and Zn, which are
derived from a wide variety of household products, such as cleaning materials, toothpaste and
cosmetics.

On the other side, the increase of metal concentrations in water during hot seasons (spring,
summer) could be attributable to the reduced volume associated with higher evaporation rate
induced by the higher water temperature during dry hot seasons; and to the liberation of heavy
metals from the sediment to the overlying water under the effect of both high temperature and
organic matter decomposition due to the fermentation process (Ali and Abdel-Sattar, 2005).

Iron is the second most abundant metal in the earth’s crust and is an important trace metal
requirement for all biological life (Goher, 1998). The results showed slightly decrease of Fe
during autumn due to high concentration of dissolved oxygen leading to oxidation of iron from
Fe+2 to Fe+3 (Stumm and Lee, 1960).

Manganese as iron is considered to be an essential element in the biochemical cycle of

ecosystem. In other words, manganese similar to iron, is usually present in well waters as

6
Mn(HCO3)2, MnCl2 or MnSO4 (Anon, 1978). Generally, the results of Mn concentrations
revealed that, its high values were recorded during winter and spring seasons which may be
attributed to the effect of the drought period. This results agrees with the finding by (Moustafa et
al., 2010).

Zinc is an essential and beneficial element in human growth (APHA, 1992). Also, it is a
plant micro-nutrient, being an important constituent in the formation of enzymes and in nucleic
acid synthesis (Hassouna, 1989). The decrease of Zn concentrations in autumn in many sites - in
behavior similar to iron- may support the explanation attributed the decrease of zinc
concentration to its adsorption on Fe(OH)3 sedimentation and manganese oxides (Grobler et al.
1987). This observation was conforimed with the positive correlation of Zn with Mn (r=0.378,
p<0.05), as in Table 4.

Lead is a serious accumulative body poison. Thus, the acceptable level of lead the body can
safely tolerate has not been established (Anon, 1978). The increase in Lead concentrations
during autumn may be due to the decrease in the precipitation of Lead salts under low pH and
temperature values (Abdo & Yacoub, 2005).

The heavy metal concentrations increased at stations (2), (5) and (10), due to the
slaughterhouse drainage (station 2), agricultural and domestic sewage effluents (station 5) and
the canal closed end (station 10). The concentrations of heavy metals in water samples were in
the order of: Fe> Mn> Zn> Pb> Cr> Ni> Co> Cu> Cd.

The positive correlation between Fe/Pb (r = 0.409, p< 0.05), Mn/Zn (r = 0.378, p< 0.05) and
Ni/Mn (r=0.365, p<0.05) indicated that these heavy metals have the same source of pollution.
But there is negative correlation between Ni/Cd (r= -0.468, p<0.01), as shown in Table 4.

ANOVA results show highly temporal significant differences (p<0.01) for manganese and
zinc with an increase during summer season, but there is a spatial significant difference (p<0.05)
for copper.

3.2- Heavy metals in sediment

The analysis of heavy metals in sediments permits us to detect pollution that could liberated
to water. Also, provides information about the critical sites of the water system under
consideration (Fabbri et al., 2001; Bordes & Bourg, 2001).

The seasonal variations of the studied trace metals in El-Sharkawia Canal sediment were
found to be in the ranges of: Fe (12.28-30.04, 26.06-30.09, 21.02-30.64 and 11.20-29.69 mg/g),
Mn (125.02-641.74, 555.35-677.11, 301.42-621.33 and 197.87-563.36 µg/g), Zn (96.73-167.50,
107.23-248.53, 50.20-193.00 and 80.43-208.20 µg/g), Cu (36.50-111.11, 40.00-99.47, 24.00-
78.20 and 20.90-83.20 µg/g), Ni (38.10-125.47, 31.80-128.22, 41.00-126.05 and 23.40-107.30
µg/g), Cr (31.97-88.29, 25.10-65.70, 21.14-83.28 and 11.70-90.60 µg/g), Co (4.12-13.70, 2.80-
22.40, 4.18-27.00 and 0.30-12.64 µg/g), Pb (6.00-64.21, 22.40-53.70, 9.30-102.10 and 35.60-
7
97.72 µg/g) and Cd (ND-0.76, ND-0.87, 0.24-0.76 and 0.12-0.88 µg/g) during autumn, winter,
spring and summer seasons, respectively.

Iron content of sediments is usually quite constant for the same spot. It occurs in sediment in
many different forms including, oxides, hydroxides, phosphates and sulphides (Erely et al.,
1991). The positive correlations between Fe with Cr, Co, Mn and Ni (r=0.378, 0.405, 0.932 and
0.576, respectively), during different seasons, reflect that iron is considered as one of the
geochemical support phase of these metals. Seasonally, the factors affecting the deposition of
iron are the presence of dissolved oxygen, the high pH values of water and organic matter
content (Elewa et al., 1997).

Manganese occurs in the sediment but to a less extent in comparison to iron. It may be
observed as particulate manganese or precipitates coating on mineral species, organic matter and
as iron-manganese hydroxides (Hem, 1962). The maximum value of Mn was reached to 677.11
µg/g, while the minimum value was reached to 152.02 µg/g. The increase in manganese contents
may be attributed to the precipitation of Mn as MnO2 under reducing conditions (Abdo, 2005).
But, the decrease in manganese contents may be related to the mobilization of manganese from
sediment to the overlying water due to the decomposition of organic matter (Fӧrstner and
Salmons, 1980). The positive correlation between Mn and Fe (r=0.932, p<0.01) indicated that
manganese is probably similar to the geochemical support phase of Fe which associated with Mn
co-precipitate or adsorbed on manganese oxides or hydroxides (Lin & Benjamin, 1992).

Nickel as copper, zinc and cadmium occurs in primary minerals. It is precipitated with
hydroxide, phosphate, carbonate and silicate. It is also adsorbed by silicate clays and from
insoluble and soluble complexes with components of soil organic matter (Baker& Chison, 1975).
The results of nickel showed that, there are wide variations among different stations during
different seasons. These wide variations may be attributed to the sediment texture and its grain
size (Anon, 1997) as well as, the organic matter content. This is supported by the positive
correlation between Ni & OM (r=0.413). On the other side, the positive correlation between Ni
& Mn (r=0.544) declared the deposition of nickel as a co-precipitate with manganese (Li et al.,
2000). Also, there are positive correlations (p<0.01) between Ni with Cr (r=0.443) and Fe
(r=0.576), as presented in Table 4.

Cobalt is more accumulated in the aquatic plants than in the invertebrates and sediments. It
can be said that cobalt is one of less abundant metals in the settled particulate matter (Rudd et al.,
1986). A wide fluctuation in cobalt content was observed at different stations and ranged
between 0.30-27.00 µg/g depending on the sediment texture, the settling of cobalt rich organic
matter, the dynamics mechanism of adsorption on clay minerals and assimilation of cobalt by
aquatic organisms especially macrophytes. The statistical analysis showed positive correlations
between Co with Fe and Mn (r=0.405 and 0.454).

8
 Chromium is widely distributed in nature; its ions can be present in two principle forms,
trivalent and hexavalent (Anon, 1978). The positive correlation between Cr and Fe (r=0.378)
reflected the role of hydrated iron oxide in the precipitation of chromium to the sediment (Laxen
and Scholkoviz, 1981).

Lead present in the form of PbSO4 is much soluble than PbCO3 and adsorbed by minerals
in the hydrolyzate sediments and in soil (Harvey and Richard, 1996). The increase in Pb content
may be related to the settling of lead rich plankton from the overlying water to the sediment. This
result coincident with that reported by Abdel-Sattar, et al., (2003). The negative correlations
between Pb with Fe and Mn (r= -0.571 and -0.466) showed the abnormal distribution dynamics
of Pb than other metals in El-Sharkawia Canal sediment.

Cadmium is sorbed to sedimentary organic matter and its binding intensity is very sensitive
to pH on Cd, indicating that, the particle bond of Cd is mobilized to water phase by acidification
(Rudd et al., 1986). There is increase in cadmium concentration during hot seasons (spring &
summer). This may be attributed to the slight rise of water temperature, pH and carbonate
concentration which facilitate the precipitation of Cd to sediment. On the other hand, the
decrease in Cd concentrations during cold seasons (autumn & winter) may be related to the
mobilization of Cd from sediment to the above water layers because of the decrease in pH values
(Admiraal et al., 1995).

The correlation coefficient (r) results are presented in table 4. They demonstrated that, there
are positive correlations between Fe & Mn (r=0.932) and Fe & Ni (r=0.576) at (p<0.01), but
between Fe & Cr (r=0.378) and Fe & Co (r=0.405) at (p<0.05) during different seasons. These
positive correlations indicated that, iron and manganese oxides can play a role in the retention of
trace metals. These metals in solution can be adsorbed by hydroxides of these two elements or
co-precipitate with them when physico-chemical conditions change (Buffle, 1990).

The highly positive significant correlation between Zn and Cu (r=0.578, p<0.01) revealed
the association of metals with clay minerals or adsorption of both Cu and Zn on hydrated iron
and manganese oxides. Similar situation was reported by Bertin & Bourg, (1995), Abdel-Sattar
& Elewa, (2001) and Abdo, (2004b).

Manganese is positively correlated with chromium (r=0.341) and cobalt (r=0.454), but
there is high positive correlation (p<0.01) between Zn/Cu (r=0.578).

According to ANOVA results, there are highly temporal significant differences (p<0.01)
for lead and cobalt, but there is highly spatial significant difference (p<0.01) for copper. Also,
there is temporal significant difference (p<0.05) for manganese.

9
 4- CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In general, the present results indicated that the concentration levels of the studied heavy
metals in El-Sharkawia Canal water were found within the permissible limits except for Fe, Mn,
Ni and Pb according to Egypt. Guidelines, (2007), but the concentration levels in the sediment
were within the permissible limits except for Ni and Cu according to OMOE, (1993), as shown
in Table (3).

The results of this study supply valuable information about some heavy metals
concentrations in water and sediment from different sites along El-Sharkawia Canal. we
concluded that, the main factors which affect the distribution and concentration levels of the
studied heavy metals are: 1- Climatic conditions, 2- Activities and other pollution drainage
sources, 3- Nature of the sediment, and 4- Systematic investigation which is recommended to
monitor heavy metals loading and changes in the canal water and sediment qualities.

Table (3): Minimum, Maximum and Mean of heavy metals in water (µg/l) and sediment
(µg/g) compared to guidelines values.

Water µg/l Sediment µg/g

Parameter
(1) (2)
Min Max mean PL Min Max mean (LEL-SEL)

* * * *
Fe 125.80 1478.47 491.29 300 11.20 30.64 26.74 20-40

Mn 1.80 119.00 54.50 100 152.02 677.11 513.44 460-1100

Zn 1.60 40.40 15.77 3000 50.20 248.53 123.03 120-810

Cu 0.60 4.12 1.72 2000 20.90 111.11 55.17 16-110

Ni 1.75 20.20 9.02 20 23.40 128.22 75.88 16-75

Cr 5.20 25.20 11.30 50 11.70 90.60 44.05 26-110

Co 0.80 13.60 6.03 - 0.30 27.00 9.53 50

Pb 3.40 32.60 13.13 10 6.00 102.10 39.98 31-250

Cd ND 1.21 0.56 3 ND 0.88 0.44 0.6 -10

*
mg/g
(1)
PL=Permissible level, according to Egypt., (2007).
(2)
LEL= Lowest effect level; SEL= Severe effect level, according to OMOE, (1993).

10
 Table (4): Correlation coefficient matrix of the studied trace metals during 2013-2014.

Few Mnw Znw Cuw Niw Crw Cow Pbw Cdw Fes Mns Zns Cus Nis Crs Cos Pbs Cds
µg/l µg/l µg/l µg/l µg/l µg/l µg/l µg/l µg/l mg/g µg/g µg/g µg/g µg/g µg/g µg/g µg/g µg/g
Few µg/l 1.00
Mnw µg/l 0.16 1.00
Znw µg/l 0.11 0.38 1.00
Cuw µg/l -0.22 0.02 0.32 1.00
Niw µg/l 0.02 0.36 0.06 0.26 1.00
Crw µg/l 0.14 0.19 0.18 -0.18 0.00 1.00
Cow µg/l -0.02 0.05 -0.05 -0.27 0.23 0.15 1.00
Pbw µg/l 0.41 -0.32 0.05 -0.20 -0.31 -0.04 0.03 1.00
Cdw µg/l -0.04 -0.10 -0.10 0.04 -0.47 -0.13 -0.22 0.09 1.00
Fes mg/g -0.62 -0.03 0.03 0.02 0.06 0.09 0.18 -0.16 -0.08 1.00
Mns µg/g -0.60 0.05 0.03 0.08 0.12 0.08 0.16 -0.27 -0.07 0.93 1.00
Zns µg/g 0.16 0.03 -0.07 -0.04 -0.01 0.39 -0.01 -0.25 0.18 -0.05 0.04 1.00
Cus µg/g 0.29 -0.03 0.03 0.14 0.10 0.33 -0.14 0.08 0.10 -0.07 0.07 0.58 1.00
Nis µg/g -0.32 0.07 0.19 0.37 0.28 0.25 0.25 -0.13 -0.01 0.58 0.54 -0.06 0.18 1.00
Crs µg/g 0.13 -0.09 -0.05 -0.01 0.03 0.09 0.27 0.10 0.04 0.38 0.34 0.04 0.04 0.44 1.00
Cos µg/g -0.38 -0.02 -0.34 0.15 0.18 -0.16 0.21 -0.37 0.09 0.41 0.45 0.22 0.23 0.24 -0.04 1.00
Pbs µg/g 0.43 -0.03 0.18 0.07 0.04 0.21 0.06 -0.06 -0.17 -0.57 -0.47 0.31 0.27 -0.21 -0.07 -0.29 1.00
Cds µg/g 0.14 0.22 0.00 -0.21 0.08 0.13 0.13 -0.13 0.15 -0.04 -0.04 0.12 -0.11 -0.16 -0.05 -0.09 -0.07 1.00
w= water, s= sediment

11
 Fig. (2): Multiple box and whisker plots of measured heavy metals accumulation
in sediments of the study area during 2013-2014.

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