Evaluation of Heavy Metals Loading of Yamoussoukro Lake System (C TE D’IVOIRE)

The present study was conducted to provide baseline data for metal concentration in Yamoussoukro lake system, a tropical lake system. For this purpose, seventeen stations were selected as sampling sites. Water samples were collected monthly, between January and December 2011 and analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP-OES) spectrometer to determine metal content. Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu) and lead (Pb) concentration were determined. On average, the level of heavy metal varied from 0.005±0.011 to 1.048±0.421 for Fe, 0.012±0.003 to 0.440±0.137 for Mn, 0.192±0.054 to 0.347±0.045 for Zn, 0.008±0.02 to 0.019±0.005 for Cu and 0.015±0.005 to 0.021±0.003 for Pb; all in mg/L. Heavy metals presented in the study area presented en heterogeneous variation and iron tops the list with a value of 111.52%. Furthermore, all the samples analyzed contained the five heavy metals studied each in varying concentrations. These parameters concentrations indicated that the Yamoussoukro lake system is fairly polluted according to the WHO standards.