Assessment of Mercury Contamination in Water and Soil Surrounding a Chlor-Alkali Plant: A Case Study

As a consequence of increasing industrialization without environmental governance, Pakistan is seriously confronted by many complex and difficult environmental challenges related to water and soil pollution. Among these pollution types, pollution due to heavy metals is of serious concern due to their harmful effects on living organisms. In Pakistan, a mercury-cell chlor-alkali plant (MCCAP), installed at Kala Shah Kaku industrial zone, is causing serious environmental degradation in nearby areas due to the direct discharge of its wastewater in the fresh water of Nullah Daik. The production capacity of the MCCAP is, approximately, 33 thousand metric tons per year. Furthermore, due to monsoon flooding every year, agricultural fields around the Nullah Daik are also suspected to significant contamination. Therefore, assessment of contamination in the waters of Nullah Daik as well as nearby agriculture fields is an important task to study. This study was conducted to analyse the mercury lev