Pollution of the environment with heavy metals is a global
problem giving threats to the humanity. There are several sources
of heavy metal pollution to the environment (soil and water) that
include wastes from coal, natural gas, paper and textile industries.
Cadmium, chromium, copper and lead are the most common toxic
ions contained in industrial waste water. These heavy metal ions
are toxic to human. For example, cadmium associated with renal
dysfunction and leads to lung disease (Zou et al., 2008).
Environmental regulations are legislated to protect the humanity
from heavy metal pollution and they provide guidelines and
threshold limits for each of the heavy metals in drinking water.
Typically, world health organization recommends a maximum of
3 lg L1 and 10 lg L1 for cadmium and lead, respectively, in their
guidelines for drinking water. Because of the risk to human health
and a variety of environmental problems, the extent of heavy metal
pollution needs to be assessed as it occurs, so that it can be remedied
before it becomes hazardous.