Heavy metals are often present in water and wastewater as contaminants. From the public health and environmental protection point of view, it is important that their concentration should be within the permissible limit. Many technologies for heavy metals removal have been evolved, like ion exchange, chemical percipitation and reverse osmosis which are often expensive.

Surface and groundwater pollution in the mining and industrial area is a growing concern. Jharia Coalfield is one of the biggest coalfield and highly industrialized area in India. A study was undertaken in some of the coal mining and industrial areas in this coalfield to assess the quality of surface and groundwater.