POLLUTION AND POTENTIAL ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT OF HEAVY METAL IN SEDIMERT OF QINHUAI RIVER

Qinhuai River,a famous river across Nanjing City and running the local ancient culture,plays a great role in the geography,water environment and urban development of Nanjing City.The Hakanson's ec- ological risk index method is briefly introduced and applied to assess the potential ecological risk of the Qinhuai River.The concentrations of copper,zinc and lead in sediment samples collected from Qinhuai Riv- er are analyzed.It is concluded that the degree of contamination and the potential ecological risk of Qinhuai River are low except for those of Qinliangmen River which are moderate.The risk degree in high-water sea- son is higher than the degree in the low-water period commonly after sediment-dredging.The correlative characteristics between available phosphorus and other pollutants are also analyzed.The highly significant correlation with 0.963 5 of correlation coefficient between available phosphorus and lead indicates that a- vailable phosphorus and lead might have the same sources.