Heavy metals bioaccumulation analysis with macroalgae growing in Ganga water in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India

For a sustainable ecosystem and the benefit of mankind, knowledge of environmental pollution with a health impact is crucial.Industrial waste and sewage sources contaminate the Ganga River's water.Freshwater algae have a well-known ability to bioaccumulate heavy metals.We investigated the ability of the green algae Hydrodictyon reticulatum and Rhizoclonium sp. to biologically accumulate heavy metals in an aqueous environment as a response to the increasing environmental contamination associated with heavy metals.We analysed the heavy metals Cd, Cr, Pb, and Fe.We collected algal biomass and Ganga water samples from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, in March 2022 to study heavy metals.Heavy metals were analyzed using a spectrophotometric technique and an atomic absorption spectrometer (Perkin Elmer A-700).Green algae can highly accumulate heavy metals.We examined heavy metals in algal and Ganga water samples.We found the concentrations of heavy metals in Ganga water in the following order: Cd > Cr > Pb > Fe.In Hydrodictyon reticulatum, the bioaccumulation factor was 169.16 for Fe, 27.5 for Pb, 22.14 for Cr, and 2.58 for Cd.In Rhizoclonium sp., it was 352.5 for Fe, 34.74 for Pb, 27.63 for Cr, and 3.13 for Cd.