EXPLORATIVE ANALYSIS OF HEAVY METALS IN THE ASSABET RIVER, HUDSON, MASSACHUSETTS

The Assabet River, which runs from Westborough to Concord Massachusetts, has a history of shoe factories, lumber mills and tanneries industrializing the Hudson area throughout the nineteenth century until 1968. Previous studies of the Assabet River focus primarily on phosphorus and nitrogen as a results of agricultural contamination. In this study, twelve fluvial sediment grab samples were collected at a depth of approximately five centimeters from the depositional bank in the Hudson and Stow area, covering a twelve mile stretch. Analysis was done using the Innov-X Delta Handheld Premium X-Ray Florescent Spectrometer (XRF) for heavy metals including Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Ag, Cd, Pb and Hg. Hg and Pb concentrations were elevated above their respective Probable Effects Level (PEL) in ten of twelve samples, and fifty percent of the samples were above the PEL for Ni. There are plans to investigate correlations found between the metals to potentially locate the point source. Future studies would explore the soil further down river for similar traces of contamination as well as collecting a sediment core to track the history of contamination.