Excessive loading of water bodies with surface runoff-driven nutrients and heavy metals has become a serious concern worldwide. We investigated the surface runoff quality for nutrients and heavy metals being flushed to the Ganga River, as influenced by atmospheric deposition (AD). We selected three city sites in India, Haridwar, Varanasi, and Howrah, which differ widely with respect to population density and anthropogenic activities. We found distinct spatio-temporal trends in AD input of nutrients and heavy metal with values being highest in Varanasi region followed by Howrah and Haridwar. The runoff nutrients and metals showed strong synchrony with their respective levels in AD input. The concentrations were higher in the first flush. We found strong correlations (R² = 0.83–0.93; p < 0.001) between AD metals and nutrients with their respective concentration in runoff. For all the studied metals, except Cd, the major proportions were in particulate form. The Cd was present in almost equal proportions in particulate and dissolved fractions. Metals in runoff were found in order as: Zn > Pb > Cu > Ni > Cr > Cd. In general, the concentrations of metals were higher than those reported in other studies. The contamination factor and geo-accumulation index show that the Cd was a major pollutant in the runoff. The pollution load index (PLI) indicates that all three sites are highly polluted. Our study indicates that there is a need to reduce particulate loads. Furthermore, because of the high concentrations of pollutants in the first flush, strategies may be developed to enhance the efficiency of treatment of the first flush of runoff.

地表径流驱动的营养物质和重金属使水体过度负荷已成为世界范围内的一个严重问题。我们调查了受大气沉降 (AD) 影响的被冲入恒河的养分和重金属的地表径流质量。我们选择了印度的三个城市地点，即哈里瓦、瓦拉纳西和豪拉，它们在人口密度和人为活动方面差异很大。我们发现营养物质和重金属的 AD 输入具有明显的时空趋势，瓦拉纳西地区的值最高，其次是豪拉和哈里瓦。径流养分和金属与它们各自在 AD 输入中的水平表现出强烈的同步性。第一次冲洗时浓度较高。我们发现了强相关性（R ²  = 0.83–0.93；p < 0.001) AD 金属和养分在径流中各自的浓度。对于所有研究的金属，除了 Cd，主要比例是颗粒形式。Cd 在颗粒和溶解部分中的比例几乎相等。径流中金属的发现顺序为：Zn > Pb > Cu > Ni > Cr > Cd。一般来说，金属的浓度高于其他研究报告的浓度。污染因子和地积聚指数表明，Cd是径流中的主要污染物。污染负荷指数（PLI）表明所有三个地点都受到高度污染。我们的研究表明，有必要减少颗粒物负荷。此外，由于第一次冲洗时污染物浓度很高，