TITLE:
Heavy Metal Contamination Assessment of Groundwater Resources in Behbahan Plain Southwest Zagros
AUTHORS:
Zohreh Marbooti, Rezvan Khavari, Farhad Ehya
KEYWORDS:
Heavy Elements, Ground Water, Pollution, Waste Water
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Geology,
Vol.5 No.5,
May
18,
2015
ABSTRACT: Ground water is an
important issue in environmental engineering and water supply systems, so
preservation and purification of ground water have a critical role in any
community. This paper investigates the concentration of several elements such
as Pb, Cd, As, Se, Co and Zn for ground water in Behbahan (a city in southwest
of Iran), to this purpose a group of 30 wells were studied to determine the
heavy metal concentration, physical parameters (PH, EC, TDS, Temperature) in situ. The major ions’ values
ofHCO3-2,SO42-, Cl-, Na+, Mg2+,
Ca2+, K+were measured for the wells based on the
titrimetrical and flame photometry and optical emission spectrophotometer.
Results of the analyses indicated the concentration of Pb, As, Cd and Se in 33,
13, 56, 100 percent greater than normal range of WHO standard respectively. No
pollution of Co and Zn was seen in any specimen. There is a low correlation
between Pb and major ions value, so it can be concluded that Pb
overconcentration is caused by human contamination. The high correlation
between Se, As and major cations and anions, implies that they can originate
from dissolution and liquidation of mineral evaporation in the zone. The high
rate of Cd concentration in urban sewage water is due to the small industries,
workshops and mills wastewater.