Study on Contamination by Heavy Metals in the Cotaxtla-Jamapa Basin with Influence in the Central Zone of the Gulf of Mexico María del Refugio Castañeda-Chávez & Fabiola Lango-Reynoso & Gabycarmen Navarrete-Rodríguez Received: 30 August 2019 /Accepted: 31 January 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 Abstract Surface waters are exposed during their jour- ney to various types of pollutants plus the contribution they receive from different effluents. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the concentration of Pb, Cd, and Cu in surface waters of the Cotaxtla-Jamapa basin in Veracruz, Mexico. Analyzes were carried out in triplicate in six sampling sites, during three seasons, in morning, and night hours. At the sampling sites, Bocana and Arroyo Moreno, concentrations higher than the maximum permissible international limits of Pb and Cd were reported. The Pb, by time of sampling, present- ed significant statistical differences (p < 0.05) in three seasons of the year, in contrast to Cd and Cu. The above results indicated a risk in the use of water from the Cotaxtla-Jamapa basin, despite the fact that the concen- trations obtained according to the national limits for NOM-001-SEMARNAT were not exceeded. It is nec- essary to update the national legislation to ensure the reduction of risk from exposure to heavy metals and to ensure conservation in terms of environmental quality. Keywords Toxicity . Bioaccumulation . Chronic and acute exposure . Source of contamination . Water pollution . Environmental quality 1 Introduction A hydrological basin is a basic physical unit difficult to delimit of agricultural and environmental activities, due to its relationship with the environment where it is located (Valdovinos and Parra 2006; Torres-Beristáin et al. 2013). In particular, the coastal basin of the Jamapa River, since it is distributed totally within the state of Veracruz, Mexico (Fig. 1). This basin is born in the Sierra Madre Oriental, on the slopes of the Pico de Orizaba, joined by the Cotaxtla, Huatusco, and Totolapan Rivers (Maldonado-González et al. 2017). The final channel of this tributary has its mouth in the central zone of the Gulf of Mexico, southeast of the Port of Veracruz, in the municipality of Boca del Río, Vera- cruz, Mexico (Landeros-Sánchez et al. 2011; Salas- Monreal et al. 2013). The Cotaxtla-Jamapa coastal basin has eight different uses identified with the concession title for the use of surface water, which corresponds mainly to agricultural, industrial, livestock, public-urban, services, domestic, aquaculture, and other different uses (REPDA 2014). Of the different managements, the agricultural is the one of greater volume of demand covering the 88.1%, followed by the industrial with 6.1% and the third place corresponds to the public-urban with 5.3%. The Cotaxtla-Jamapa basin supplies water to important cities Water Air Soil Pollut (2020) 231:99 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-020-4446-9 M. del Refugio Castañeda-Chávez (*) : F. Lango-Reynoso : G. Navarrete-Rodríguez Tecnológico Nacional de México/Instituto Tecnológico de Boca del Río, Carretera Veracruz, Boca del Río, Veracruz, Mexico e-mail: mariacastaneda@bdelrio.tecnm.mx F. Lango-Reynoso e-mail: fabiolalango@bdelrio.tecnm.mx G. Navarrete-Rodríguez e-mail: gabycarmennavarrete@bdelrio.tecnm.mx