TITLE:
Environmental Assessment and Analysis of Chemical Properties of Drinking Water Using Geo-Spatial Technologies: Examples from Lahore Metropolitan
AUTHORS:
Ali Imam Mirza, Ali Iqtadar Mirza, Tabasam Jamal, Syed Shehzad Hassan, Muhammad A. Butt, Atif Ali, Hafsa Batool, Rashid Mahmood, Attia Naz, Azam Sohail, Imran Saddique Kaukab, Sana Alvi, Javed Ahmad, Safeer Ali, Muneeb Aamir, Azeem Akhtar, Arshad Javed
KEYWORDS:
Water Contamination, Urbanization, Geographic Information System (GIS), Chemical Properties, Carcinogenic Elements, WHO, WebGIS, RS, WASA, DNA, pH, TDS
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Remote Sensing,
Vol.7 No.3,
September
30,
2018
ABSTRACT: The contamination of drinking water
in Pakistan is a serious threat to its citizens. Urbanization leads to an
increased demand of drinking water supply that leads to excessive drawdown that
further causes lowering of water table. The current WASA (Water and Sanitation
Authority) supply network does not fulfill the demand of a growing metropolitan
city of Lahore. The drawdown of Lahore is absolutely reliant on Water and Sanitation Authority (WASA)
water supply network that causes numerous problems due to inappropriate management of groundwater capital and
increased urbanization. This research investigates groundwater qualities:
Alkalinity, Arsenic, Calcium, chloride, Total Hardness, Magnesium, Nitrate, pH
and Total Dissolved solids using geographic information system (GIS). Residents of high concentrated towns, like Samnabad Town, Allama Iqbal
Town, Gulberg, Data Ganj Bakhsh Town, Ravi Town and Wahga town witness cut-down of water supply mainly due to over burden on tube wells. Chemical
properties of drinking water show that most of the parameters were within the
allowable limits of WHO whereas the pH, and arsenic values are higher than the
average. Arsenic is a carcinogenic element which causes cancer and is higher in
the drinking water. Finally, this study
identifies highly contaminated groundwater zones and makes it convenient to
find actual pollutants. Therefore, plans are needed to protect the aquifer.