Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research

Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research

Assessment of chemical quality of drinking water in rural area of Qorveh city, Kurdistan province, Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Afshin Maleki 1
Pari Teymouri 1
Rahman Rahimi 2
Mokhtar Rostami 2
Hassan Amini 1
Hiua Daraei 1
Pegah Bahmani 2
Shiva Zandi 1
1 Kurdistan Environmental Health Research Center, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran
2 Kurdistan Rural Water and Wastewater Company, Sanandaj, Iran
10.22102/jaehr.2014.40140
Abstract
Groundwater aquifers as one of the main sources of water supplies are faced with different risks such as level dropping due to lack of precipitation, and natural and non-natural pollutants. Thus, it is extremely necessary to monitor ground water quality. In the present study, the concentration of cations, anions, and some toxic metals was evaluated in 21 rural water supplies in Qorveh plain in two stages. Data were analyzed with Rockwork and Arc GIS software. Results from Hydro chemical analysis showed that all the studied parameters had lower concentrations than the permitted limits, except for arsenic (As) and selenium (Se) in some of water resources. As concentration in 20% of studied resources were higher than recommended standards. There was a significant difference between nitrate (NO3−) concentrations in the two low- and high-water seasons (P < 0.01). Bicarbonate (HCO3−) and calcium (Ca2+) were the prevalent anion and cation, respectively, meaning that samples type was calcium-bicarbonate. Wilcox diagram classified the samples in C2-S1 and C3-S1 classes. Correlation coefficient between chemical parameters showed that HCO3− and Ca2+ had the highest correlation. Finally, it can be said that except for As and Se, other water characteristics have a good quality for drinking water application. However, current and uncontrolled application of the studied water supplies, especially in agricultural activities, can change and decrease their quality. Therefore, it is important to prevent the health threats of such process.  
Keywords
Water Quality Monitoring
Water Resource
Drinking Water
heavy metals
Water Quality Standard
  1. Sheikh Goodarzi M, Mousavi SH, Khorasani N. Imulating spatial changes in groundwater qualitative. factors using geostatistical methods. (Case Study: Tehran - Karaj Plain). Journal of Natural Environment, Iranian Journal of Natural Resources 2012; 65(1): 83-93.
  2. Zehtabian GH, Janfaza E, Mohammad Asgari H, Nematollahi MJ. Modeling of ground water spatial distribution for some chemical properties (Case study in Garmsar watershed). Iranian Journal of Range and Desert Research 2010; 17(1): 61-73. [In Persian]
  3. Glynn PD, Plummer LN. Geochemistry and the understanding of ground-water systems. Hydrogeology Journal 2005; 13(1): 263-87.
  4. Mohammadi M, Mohammadi Ghaleney M, Ebrahimi K. Spatial and temporal variations of groundwater Quality of Qazvin plain. Quality of Qazvin plain 2011; 5(8): 41-52. [In Persian]
  5. Mesdaghinia AR, Mosaferi M, Yunesian M, Nasseri S, Mahvi AH. Measurement of arsenic concentration in drinking water of a polluted area using a field and SDDC methods accompanied by assessment of precision and accuracy of each method. Hakim 2005; 8(1): 43-51. [In Persian].
  6. Mosaferi M, Taghipour H, Hassani A, Borghei M, Kamali Z, Ghadirzadeh A. Study of arsenic presence in drinking water sources: a case study. Iran J Health Environ 2008; 1(1): 19-28. [In Persian].
  7. Sharma AK, Tjell JC, Sloth JJ, Holm PE. Review of arsenic contamination, exposure through water and food and low cost mitigation options for rural areas. Applied Geochemistry 2014; 41: 11-33.
  8. Mozafarian K, Madaeni SS, Khoshnodie M. Evaluating the Performance of Reverse Osmosis in Arsenic Removal from Water. Water and Wastewater 2006; 60: 22-8. [In Persian].
  9. Bundschuh J, Litter MI, Parvez F, Roman-Ross G, Nicolli HB, Jean JS, et al. One century of arsenic exposure in Latin America: a review of history and occurrence from 14 countries. Sci Total Environ 2012; 429: 2-35.
  10. Barati AH, Maleki A, Alasvand M. Multi-trace elements level in drinking water and the prevalence of multi-chronic arsenical poisoning in residents in the west area of Iran. Sci Total Environ 2010; 408(7): 1523-9.
  11. Eaton AD, Franson MAH. Standard methods for the examination of water & wastewater. Washington DC: American Public Health Association; 2005.
  12. Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran. Drinking water-physical and chemical specifications. 5th ed. Tehran, Iran: Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran; 2010. p. 1-18. [In Persian].
  13. Miranzadeh M, Mostafaii G, Jalali A. An study to determine the nitrate of water wells and distribution network in Kashan during 2005-2004. Feyz 2006; 10(2): 39-45. [In Persian].
  14. Office of Drinking Water. Estimated national occurrence and exposure to nitrate and nitrite in public drinking water supplies. Washington, DC: US Environmental Protection Agency; 1987.
  15. Batheja K, Sinha AK, Seth G. Nitrate and fluoride contamination in groundwater of Churu Block, Rajasthan. J Indian Water Work Assoc 2008; 40: 45-9.
  16. Jalali M, Kolahchi Z. Nitrate concentration in groundwater of Bahar area, Hamadan. J Water Soil Sci 2005; 19(2): 194-202.
  17. Mondal NC, Saxena VK, Singh VS. Occurrence of elevated nitrate in groundwaters of Krishna delta, India. African Journal of Environmental science and technology 2008; 2(9): 265-71.
  18. Jahangiri SH, Souri B, Badakhshan H. Relationships of Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Calcareous Soils of Qorveh Watershed with Soil Arsenic. Iranian Journal of Soil Research 2011; 25(4): 337-48. [In Persian].
Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research
Volume 2, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
3
Winter 2014
Pages 22-29