Groundwater pollution assessment in urban areas of Qom City

Rahimi, M.H.; Kalantari, N.; Sharifidoost, M.; Gashtasebi, A.

doi:10.22034/ijhcum.2018.02.03

Document Type : ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Authors

¹ Department of Geology, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

² Geological Survey and Mineral Explorations of Iran, Tehran, Iran

³ Department of Civil Engineering, Water Engineering Management, Young Researcher and Elite Club, Islamshar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Islamshar, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22034/ijhcum.2018.02.03

Abstract

Nowadays, it is vital to pay attention more seriously to the urban environmental risks because of its effects on citizens' lives. One of these problems is groundwater pollution which threatens much valuable water resources. Drinking water in Qom City is provided from different resources, such as watersheds and water wells which are located within the city. Although there is a shortage of water supply, according to the extreme water demand, these wells are used to provide city drinking water. Unfortunately, Sewage collection network in this city has not been completed yet and only a small amount of municipal wastewater is collected by the sewer network. As a result the city aquifer has been contaminated by the wastewater infiltration through the septic tanks scattered across the city. In order to assess the amount of contamination in water wells in urban areas of Qom City, sampling and testing of 24 deep wells which are scattered in the city was performed on December 2013. The meseared qualitative parameters consist of color, T, TU, TSS, pH, EC, TDS, DO, BOD₅, COD, Total Alkalinity, CO₃, HCO₃, Total Hardness, Ca, Mg, SO₄, Cl, Na, K, NH₄, NO₂, NO₃, PO₄, Br, I, TC, FC, FS, HPC, Fe, Hg, Pb, Co, Cd, Ni, As, Zn, B, Cu, Mn, Sn, Ba, and Sr. In this study, the drinking water physical, chemical and microbiological specifications guidelines of Iranian Standards and Industrial Research and the World Health Organization standards were used to evaluate the amount of the aquifer pollution. The results indicate that the aquifer in Qom is polluted widely by B, NO₃, TC, FC and HPC.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Urban health, safety and environment (HSE)

References

Biltton, G., (2005). Wastewater microbiology, 3^rd. Eds, John Wiley and Sons Inc, , (772 pages).

Botkin, D. B.; Keller, E.A., (2003). Environmental Science: Earth as a living planet. Manage. Environ. Qual. Int. J., 14(5): 623-623

(1 page).

Chilton, J., (1999). Groundwater in the urban environment. AA Balkema publication. (2).

Clay, D. R., (1990). RCRA orientation manual. (No. PB-91-145888/XAB; EPA--530/SW-90/036). Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC (USA). Office of Solid Waste.

Davis, A.; Kempton, J. H.; Nicholson, A.; Yare, B., (1994). Groundwater transport of arsenic and chromium at a historical tannery, Woburn, Massachusetts, USA. Appl. Geochem., 9(5): 569-582 (14 pages).

Directive, C., (1998). On the quality of water intended for human consumption. Official J. Eur. Communities, 330: 32-54 (23 page).

EPA., (2012). Edition of the Drinking Water Standards and Health Advisories. EPA 822-S-12-001, Office of Water (12 pages).

Freeze, R.A.; Cherry, J.A., (1979). Groundwater. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. (588 pages).

Goulding, K., (2000). Nitrate leaching from arable and horticultural land. Soil Use Manage., 16(1): 145-151 (7 pages).

Health Canada, (2017(. Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality -Summary Table. Water and Air Quality Bureau, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario (22 pages).

Hosetti, B.B.; Kumar, A., (2002). A textbook of applied aquatic biology, Delhi: Daya Publishing House (393 pages).

Huntsman-Mapila, P.; Mapila, T.; Letshwenyo, M.; Wolski, P.; Hemond, C., (2006). Characterization of arsenic occurrence in the water and sediments of the Okavango Delta, NW Botswana. Appl. Geochem., 21(8): 1376-1391. (16 pages).

ICMSF, International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods (1998). Microorganisms in foods, 6.St Edmundsbury Publication, Suffolk, 461-472 (12 pages).

ISIRI, Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran, No:1011, (2010). Drinking Water–microbiological specifications, 6^th revision.ICS: 07.100.20 (15 pages). (In Persian)

ISIRI, Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran, No:1053, (2010), Drinking Water Physical and Chemical Specification, 5^th revision. ICS:13.060.020, (18 pages). (In Persian).

ISIRI, Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran, No:1053 (2013), Drinking Water Physical and Chemical Specification, 5^th revision, Admendmnent No.1. Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran. ICS:13.060.020, (2 pages). (In Persian).

IRI, Issue NO. 522, (2010). Instruction For surface water quality monitoring, Islamic Republic of Iran, Vice presidency for strategic planning and supervision. Ministry of Energy (203 pages). (In persian).

Johnson, D.L.; Ambrose, S.H.; Bassett, T.J.; Bowen, M.L.; Crummey, D.E.; Isaacson, J.S.; Johnson, D.N.; Lamb, P.; Saul, M.; Winter-Nelson, A.E., (1997). "Meanings of environmental terms. J. Environ. Qual., 26: 581–589. (9 pages).

Jousma, G.; Bear, J.; Haimes, Y. Y.; Walter, F., (Eds.). (2012). Groundwater contamination: Use of models in decision-making: Proceedings of the International conference on groundwater contamination: Use of Models in Decision-Making, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 26–29 October 1987, Organized by the International ground water modeling center (IGWMC), Indianapolis—Delft. Springer Science and Business Media. (654 pages).

Lu, Y.; Tang, C.; Chen, J.; Sakura, Y., (2008). Impact of septic tank systems on local groundwater quality and water supply in the Pearl River Delta, China: case study. Hydrol. Processe., 22(3): 443-450. (8 pages).

Majumdar, D.; Gupta, N., (2000). Nitrate pollution of groundwater and associated human health disorders. Indian J. Environ. Health, 42(1): 28-39. (12 pages).

Mapanda, F.; Mangwayana, E. N.; Nyamangara, J.; Giller, K. E., (2005). The effect of long-term irrigation using wastewater on heavy metal contents of soils under vegetables in Harare, Zimbabwe. Agr. Ecosyst. Environ., 107(2), 151-165. (15 pages).

Mara, DD., (2004). Domestic wastewater treatment in developing countries, Earth scan, London (293 pages).

Paul, M.; Wolf, L.; Fund, K.; Held, I.; Winter, J.; Gallert, C.; Hötzl, H., (2004). Microbiological condition of urban groundwater in the vicinity of leaky sewer systems. Clean- Sol Air Water, 32(4‐5): 351-360. (10 pages).

Rahimi, M.H.; Kalantari, N.; Sharifidoost, M.; Kazemi, M., (2018). Quality assessment of treated wastewater to be reused in agriculture. Glob. J. Environ. Sci. Manage., 4(2): 217-230 (14 pages).

Rahimi, M., Kalantari, N., Aliyari, Z., Mohamadi Ahmadabadi, R. (2017). Evaluation of Nitrate Contaminaion of Drinking Water Wells in the City of Qom. J. Water and Wastewater (parallel title ); Ab va Fazilab 28(4): 21-33. (13 pages). (In Persian)

Rahimi, M.H.; Kalantari, N.; Zarasvandi, A.; Mohamadi Ahmad Abadi, R., (2017). Assessment of physical, chemical, and biological contaminants in the Sharifabad auifer, Qom. Iran. IWRJ., 11: 4. (13 pages).

Tim, U. S.; Mostaghimi, S. (1991). Model for predicting virus movement through soils. Groundwater, 29(2), 251-259. (9 pages).

Tredoux, G.; Cavé, L.; Engelbrecht, P., (2004). Groundwater pollution: Are we monitoring appropriate parameters? Water SA, 30(5), 114-119. (6 pages).

WHO (World Health Organization), (2011). Guidelines for drinking-water quality - 4^th ed. (541 pages).

LETTERS TO EDITOR

International Journal of Human Capital in Urban Management (IJHCUM) welcomes letters to the editor for the post-publication discussions and corrections which allows debate post publication on its site, through the Letters to Editor. Letters pertaining to manuscript published in IJHCUM should be sent to the editorial office of IJHCUM within three months of either online publication or before printed publication, except for critiques of original research. Following points are to be considering before sending the letters (comments) to the editor.

[1] Letters that include statements of statistics, facts, research, or theories should include appropriate references, although more than three are discouraged.

[2] Letters that are personal attacks on an author rather than thoughtful criticism of the author’s ideas will not be considered for publication.

[3] Letters can be no more than 300 words in length.

[4] Letter writers should include a statement at the beginning of the letter stating that it is being submitted either for publication or not.

[5] Anonymous letters will not be considered.

[6] Letter writers must include their city and state of residence or work.

[7] Letters will be edited for clarity and length.

Name *

Email Address *

Affiliation *

Comments *

Security Code *

International Journal of Human Capital in Urban Management

Groundwater pollution assessment in urban areas of Qom City

References

References

Send comment about this article

Volume 3, Issue 2 - Serial Number 10
April 2018
Pages 97-110

Groundwater pollution assessment in urban areas of Qom City

References

References

Send comment about this article

Volume 3, Issue 2 - Serial Number 10April 2018Pages 97-110

Volume 3, Issue 2 - Serial Number 10
April 2018
Pages 97-110