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Trace elements in water and viscera of fish from Butuí-Icamaquã Basin, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Heavy metals, also called trace elements, may be essential to the metabolism of living organisms, and at the same time, depending on their concentrations, highly toxic. With the objective to investigate the toxicity of water of the Butuí-Icamaquã Rivers Basin on the border west of Rio Grande do Sul, were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer, the contents of aluminum, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, nickel and zinc in abdominal viscera of fish, collected between June 2007 and February 2008, at selected points in Butuí, Icamaquã and Uruguai rivers. Aluminum, cadmium, manganese and nickel were above the levels considered safe for human consumption and levels near the legal limit were found for chrome and copper. The simultaneous analysis of water samples collected in the same locations showed levels above the legal limits of bromine, chromate, copper, cyanide, lead, manganese, phenols, phosphate and sulfate. These elements, in such concentrations in water and in fish, may compromise the ecosystem or pose risks to human health.

water resources; heavy metals; toxicity


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