Evaluation of the heavy metal pollution index for surface and spring waternear a limestone mining area of the lower Himalayas

Concentrations of seven heavy metals: copper, cadmium, iron, chromium, mang anese, lead and zinc have been evaluated in nine spring water and eight sur face water sampling locations near the limestone mining area of Sirmour dis trict of Himachal Pradesh, India, during pre- and post-monsoon seasons. The concentrations of heavy metals have been found to be below the permissible levels of drinking water quality standards. The data have been used for th e calculation of heavy metal pollution index (HPI). The HPI of spring water and surface water has been found to be far below the index limit of 100, p ointing to the fact that the spring water and surface water is not polluted with respect to heavy metals despite the prolific growth of limestone mini ng in the region.