Seasonal variation in heavy metal contamination in water and sediments of river Sabarmati and Kharicut canal at Ahmedabad, Gujarat Rita N. Kumar & Rajal Solanki & J. I. Nirmal Kumar Received: 1 August 2011 / Accepted: 26 January 2012 / Published online: 21 February 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Abstract The objective of the study is to reveal the seasonal variations in the river water and sediment quality with respect to heavy metal contamination. To get the extent of trace metals contamination, water and sediment samples were collected from five different sites along the course of Sabarmati River and its tributary Kharicut canal in pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. The concentration of trace metals such as chromium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc was determined using inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy. The concentrations of heavy metals were found to be higher in the pre-monsoon season than in the monsoon and post-monsoon seasons in water samples. The pollution load index, con- tamination factor and degree of contamination (C d ) in sediments were calculated to know the extent of anthropogenic pressures. The values of C d clearly indicated very high degree of contamination at Kharicut canal (S-4: 32.25 and S-5: 54.52) and considerable degree of contamination at three sites of Sabarmati river viz; S-1, S-2 and S-3 with values 14.30, 14.42 and 17.21, respectively. Lead and nickel could not be traced in any of the river water samples. Keywords Heavy metals . Contamination factor . Degree of contamination . Sediments . Sabarmati river . Kharicut canal Introduction Pollution of underground water and surface water system through anthropogenic activities is the major environmental problem faced all around the globe. Heavy metals are widespread pollutants of great envi- ronmental concern as they are nondegradable, toxic and persistent with serious ecological ramifications on aquatic ecology (Aboud and Nandini 2009). During the last two centuries, heavy metals released by human activities have superimposed new pattern of metal distribution on those which are naturally occurring. Heavy metals are widely used in automobiles, mining industries, pesticides, house-holds appliances, dental amalgams, paints, photographic papers, photo chem- icals, etc. (WHO 1998; Lohani et al. 2008). There are basically three reservoirs of metals in aquatic environ- ment: water, sediment and biota. Metal levels in each of these three reservoirs are dominated by a complex Environ Monit Assess (2013) 185:359–368 DOI 10.1007/s10661-012-2558-4 R. N. Kumar (*) : R. Solanki Department of Biological & Environmental Sciences, N.V. Patel College of Pure & Applied Sciences, Vallabh Vidyanagar, India e-mail: nfils09@gmail.com R. N. Kumar e-mail: nvpas2009@gmail.com J. I. N. Kumar P.G. Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Institute of Science & Technology for Advanced Studies & Research (ISTAR), Vallabh Vidyanagar 388 120 Gujarat, India