The Assessment of Heavy Metals in Drinking Water from Baquba Water Treatment Plant

Abstract

This study was achieved for the purpose of determining concentrations of inorganicheavy metals for Baquba drinking water by taking samples from the water treatment plantduring the period (February 2011) to (February 2012), and these tests included heavymetals concentrations: iron, copper, lead, nickel, and cadmium. Then, the results werecompared with the standard of World Health Organization to determine the expectedincrease in concentrations of these elements, accompanied with the side effects on humanhealth.According to this study, it was reached to the fact that the station drinking waterconcentrations are accepted with iron, copper and lead but with high cadmiumconcentrations more than recommended international standards with respect to mostsamples. Also, these tests represented the presence of discrepancy in nickelconcentrations along the tested period above and below the permissible limit.According to the researcher; this is caused by the disposed of sewage waste water inthe course of river in some districts of the province without any treatments and also bythe excessive using of fertilizers in the agricultural fields near the banks of the river.It is unfortunate that the station has low efficiency in minerals treatment due to thelack of modern techniques.