Contamination of copper in leafy vegetables grown near Kalyan Railway Track, Maharashtra, India

Background:Majority of human population is suffering from vitamins and mineral deficiencies.Leafy vegetables are used to overcome this problem.Heavy metal contaminations of vegetables cannot be underestimated as these are important components for diet.In Mumbai almost all the farms are closer to railway tracks along the harbour,central and western railways;local farmers in the absence of proper irrigation facilities use water from the drains to grow their crops.This Untreated sewage water increases heavy metals in soil and crops along with pathogens.Utilization of sewage water containing heavy metals due to small scale industries in urban areas deserves special attention as it makes environment quite unsuitable for human and animal health and growth of plants.Copper is essential element while in excess it can cause many diseases.Methods:The present study is undertaken with an aim to study presence of heavy metal i.e.copper in the vegetables,water and soil alongwith physico-chemical parameters.Atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used to determine copper content in vegetable samples like Spinacia oleracea and Amaranthus caudatus.Results:The level of copper present in the vegetable was found to be higher than the permissible limits with water being the major cause of excessive copper contamination.The physicochemical parameters were found to be exceeding the drinking water and irrigation standards.Conclusion:The irrigation water is the major source of copper which increases the copper content higher than the permissible limits.But more sampling and research is essential to understand the ingress of heavy metals in the leafy vegetables.