Characteristics of heavy metal contamination by anthropogenic sources in artificial lakes of urban environment

The objective of this study is to evaluate the level and characteristics of metal contamination for the samples from the artificial lake in the urban area. The results show that sediment concentrations of typical anthropogenic contaminants, Zn, Cu, and Ni, are overall high above the sediment quality guideline. The sequential extraction results for the sediment indicate that Pb as well as Zn and Cu show the high potential for the bioavailability to the aquatic organisms in the lake. The concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cr, are high for the runoff water, which is the major pollution source to the lake, but the lake water concentration is below regulatory level. Given high metal concentrations from soils near the polluted runoff path to the lake are higher than those from soils from other sides of the lake, this relatively low contamination of the lake water is likely due to the role of the surrounding soil as a buffer. Thus, when the artificial lake is designed in the urban area, application of soil buffer such as the grassplot or the plant strip along the vicinity of the lake is recommended.