Correlation between heavy metal (As, Cd, and Pb) concentrations in water, sediments, and green-lipped mussel (Perna viridis L.) collected from Manila Bay, Philippines.

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the relationships between the heavy metal concentrations in water, sediment and Perna viridis soft tissue samples in Manila Bay. Two sites in Manila Bay were determined, wherein triplicates of water, sediment, and mussel samples were gathered. Collected water samples were acidified, sediments dried, homogenized and acid digested while soft tissues of mussels were also dried and acid digested. All samples were subjected to Inductively Coupled Plasma – Mass Specrometry (ICP-MS), wherein arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) concentrations were measured. All heavy metal concentrations measured in the samples were in safe levels except for Pb and As concentrations in P. viridis soft tissues which had values greater than 0.03ug/g for Pb and 0.72ug/g for As. Health risks caused by heavy metals are thus present when consuming mussels from Manila Bay. Furthermore, it was drawn from the study that As concentrations in P. viridis soft tissue increases when As concentrations in water and sediments increase. Concentrations of As between water and sediments, as well as between Pb concentrations in P. viridis soft tissue and sediments displayed a relationship wherein one increases when the other decreases. All relationships, however, were statistically insignificant (P>0.05).Based on the results, it was found that P. viridis are not able to reflect heavy metal concentrations in water and sediments collected from Manila Bay. However, similar studies should be conducted with greater sampling size to further establish trends in the accumulation of heavy metals in water, sediments, and in P. viridis.