Assessment of water contamination by potentially toxic elements in mangrove lagoons of the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia

Mangrove (Avicennia marina) forests in the Red Sea cost have great concern from environmental, biological, economic, and social points of view. Therefore, assessing water contamination in this ecosystem is worth to be investigated. Consequently, here we aimed to examine the levels of salinity, acidity, and the total content of Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr, Ni, and Pb in water samples collected from the upper, middle, and lower part of three mangrove lagoons (i.e., Al-Shuaiba, Yanbu, and Jeddah), Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. The total metal content (µg L−1) in water samples differed significantly among the studied areas and ranged from 286.2 to 4815.0 for Fe, 86.4–483.0 for Mn, 22.9–468.8 for Cu, 199.2–366.6 for Zn, 44.1–99.8 for Cd, 25.6–80.3 for Cr, 11.6–41.5 for Ni, and from 17.7 to 102.0 for Pb. The mean values of Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb were higher than the WHO water quality standards for fisheries. Water samples in Yanbu were more contaminated and contained higher concentrations of all metals than Jeddah and Al-Shuaiba, due to the petrochemical industries in this industrial area. Our findings suggest that the high metal content in the water of these mangrove sites, particularly in Yanbu, should be considered due to the high potential environmental and human health risks in these ecosystems. These results may help for demonstrating effective approaches for the management of these lagoons. More studies will be carried out on the sediment and mangrove plants in this ecosystem.