Assessment of Arsenic and Copper Pollution of the Benya Lagoon, Ghana By Neutron Activation Analysis

Abstract

Heavy metal concentrations in some water bodies and the soil beneath these waters. These would have detrimental consequences on these water users and consumers of the fish in that water. Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis technique using the Ghana Research Reactor-1 was employed to find out the concentrations of two heavy metals, Arsenic (As) and Copper (Cu) in the sediments, fishes, and water collected from the Benya Lagoon in the KEEA, Ghana. Cumulatively, Copper was found to be greater in concentration than Arsenic concerning the three parts of the ecology under study. On the other hand, Arsenic was more concentrated in the sediments than Copper, and Copper was more concentrated in the water and fish than Arsenic. Cumulatively, the level of contamination of Arsenic and Copper decreased in the order fish > sediment > water. Though Arsenic and Copper were found in elevated amounts in both water and fish which rendered the Lagoon water unsuitable for human use and the fish from the Lagoon unsafe for consumption, their concentrations in the sediment were found to have a low ecological risk index on the environment.