Abstract
Water pollution issue has become one of the most important public awareness issues. The excessive use of the fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture with the threat of the chemicals in water and crops especially in the two north provinces of Iran is a major concern of Iranian environmental scientists. This project is a trial to find out the status of nitrate content in drinking water of two great provinces in the north of Iran. The objectives of the present research: Determination the level of nitrate (mg/L) in drinking water of some agricultural and industrial cities and comparing of the probable effects of different industrial factories on the level of nitrate in drinking water of them. The tap water samples of 60 different sites from Rasht , Bandar Anzali and Talesh in Gilan province and Sari, Behshar and Amol in Mazandaran province in three consequent months in summer season (July, August and September) in 2013, were collected and by spectroscopy method were determined. There are no wastewater collection, treatment and disposal system in these cities. Sampling was replicated twice within each month at intervals of two weeks and the mean value considered as a result of one sample. To evaluate variability of nitrate content within sub-samples, five sub-samples (900 sub-samples) on the whole were analyzed separately. The mean concentrations of NO3- (mg/L) in most examined water samples were lower than acceptable ranges (NO3- ≤ 50 (mg/L) and only 11% of all samples were higher than it. A highly significant, positive correlation was found between nitrate contents of the August and September drinking water samples , compared to July ones. Results shows a significant difference between locations (p<0.03) and in the different sites as nitrate content in drinking water in industrial locations were obviously higher than other locations in the cities.
Highlights
Fresh water shortage is becoming an increasingly acute problem facing many nations in the world
The mean concentrations of NO3(mg/L) in most examined water samples were lower than acceptable ranges
A highly significant, positive correlation was found between nitrate contents of the August and September drinking water samples, compared to July ones
Summary
Fresh water shortage is becoming an increasingly acute problem facing many nations in the world. The risk of ground-water contamination by nitrate depends both on the nitrogen input to land surface and the degree to which an aquifer is vulnerable to nitrate leaching and accumulation. It is soluble in water and can pass through soil to the ground water table. Nitrate can persist in ground water for decades and accumulate to high levels as more nitrogen is applied to the land surface every year. Dangerous contents of Cadmium and Lead could been found in recent years in Mazandaran and Gilan agricultural products due to contaminated source tapped to address population and over fertilization with chemical fertilizers and high rain falling [3,7,8,9]. The US National Research Council found an association between high nitrate intake and gastric and esophageal cancer [13,19]
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