Journal of Environmental Protection, 2015, 6, 1308-1321 Published Online November 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jep http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jep.2015.611114 How to cite this paper: Shiji, M., Kavya, P. and Harikumar, P.S.P (2015) Sediment Quality Assessment of Kavvayi Wetland in South Coast India with Special Reference to Phosphate Fractionation and Heavy Metal Contamination. Journal of Environ- mental Protection, 6, 1308-1321. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jep.2015.611114 Sediment Quality Assessment of Kavvayi Wetland in South Coast India with Special Reference to Phosphate Fractionation and Heavy Metal Contamination Moonampadiyan Shiji, Prabhakar Kavya, Puthenveedu Sadasivan Pillai Harikumar Water Quality Division, Centre for Water Resources Development and Management, Kozhikode, India Received 22 October 2015; accepted 27 November 2015; published 30 November 2015 Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract Sediments play an important role in elemental cycling in the aquatic environment; it can be sensi- tive indicator for monitoring contaminants in aquatic environments. The heavy metal prominence, the amount and different forms of phosphorous present in the surface sediments of Kavvayi Wet- land, which is in the south west coast of India was studied and reported in this paper. A total number of 10 surface sediment samples were taken from various regions of Kavvayi Lake and were subjected to heavy metal analysis and also phosphorous fractionation. Phosphorous forms in the sediment samples were determined by the modified sequential extraction procedure and among the inorganic phosphorous pool; Fe and Al bound phosphorous constituted the major por- tion while the Ca-bound phosphorous constituted the minor part only. Higher concentration of organic phosphorous was also detected in all the samples. The sediment samples were analyzed for heavy metals such as Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb, Cd, Ni, and Zn and the results showed comparatively high- er concentration than the background values. The degree of contamination for each station was determined. Sediment pollution load index (PLI) values of the studied area ranged from 0.39 to 2.55 which indicated that the wetland sediments were polluted. Multivariate statistical techniques were applied to evaluate and characterize the analytical data. Spatial distribution maps of phos- phorous fractions and heavy metals would help to identify the pollution sources and vulnerable sites. Keywords Kavvayi Wetland, Phosphorous Fractions, Degree of Contamination, Pollution Load Index, Multivariate Statistics