Environmental Monitoring and Health Risk Assessment of African Catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) Cultured in Rural Ponds, India

Water quality monitoring of Clarias gariepinus culture ponds (n = 27) revealed poor physico-chemical conditions and metal contaminants in fish tissues (n = 324). Human health risk assessment for some heavy metal contamination delineated low risk in general except for Aluminium (Al), Iron (Fe) and Lead (Pb) which accumulated significantly ( p < 0.05) high in tissues. Health risks values were 6.3 × 10 −3 –9.6 × 10 −3 for Al; 3 × 10 −3 –9.7 × 10 −3 for Fe and 1.15 × 10 −5 –9.3 × 10 −6 for Pb respectively suggesting that contamination of Pb particularly in ponds fed with chicken waste (CW) was posing high risks.