Many priority pollutants as classified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency(US EPA) have made their way into aquatic systems such as streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans.Pollution and contamination of many ecosystems arise from both anthropogenic sources ofpollution and natural weathering. The major sources of pollution of surface waters includeeffluent discharges by industries, atmospheric depositions of pollutants and occasional accidental spills of toxic chemicals. Some of the chemical pollutants such as the heavy metals are toxic, persistent and not easily biodegradable. The major source of exposure of humans to heavy metals is through food ingestion. For adequate physiological functions, humans require adequate intakes (AIs) of some essential elements such as sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, manganese, selenium, chromium (III), copper, cobalt, iron, and zinc. However, humans may be exposed to harmful non-essential elements such as arsenic, silver, lead, mercury, cadmium, and nickel mainly through drinking water, consumption of fresh and processed foods and through occupationalexposures.
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