Water Quality Assessment of Groundwater Resources in Qaleeh Shahin Plain Based on Cd and HEI

Abstract

Abstract Aims: The chemical elements in water resources, especially groundwater, can affect the water consumption purposes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the status of the overall pollution level of ground water of Qaleeh Shahin plain with respect to heavy metals by Cd and HEI methods. Instrument & Methods: This cross-sectional semi-experimental study was conducted in Sarpol-e Zahab township in Kermanshah Province, west of Iran. For this purpose, 20 groundwater wells were chosen randomly. The samples were filtered (0.45μm), stored in polyethylene bottles and were acidified at a pH lower than 2 by adding concentrated HNO3 in order to avoid metal adsorption onto the inner bottle walls. Element concentrations were determined using ICP-OES. The correlation between the metals in the different seasons, between the indices values and concentration of metals and between different indices values was assessed by Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Findings: There were no significant correlations between the concentrations of the elements in 2 seasons except between As and Cd in winter (r=0.544; p<0.05). Only the concentration of Pb had significant correlations with Cd (r=0.937; p=0.0001) and HEI (r=0.997; p=0.0001) values in winter and with Cd (r=0.997; p=0.0001) and HEI (r=0.810; p=0.0001) values in summer, which indicated Pb as the main contributory pollutant. The correlation between Cd and HEI was significant in winter (r=0.943; p=0.0001) and was significant in summer (r=0.818; p=0.0001). Conclusion: The water resources of Qaleeh Shahin plain, Kermanshah Province, Iran, are not polluted by heavy metals and are suitable for drinking.