Evaluation of heavy metals level (arsenic, nickel, mercury and lead) effecting on health in drinking water resource of Kohgiluyeh county using geographic information system (GIS)

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the amount of heavy metals (Arsenic, Nickel, Mercury, and Lead) in drinking water resource of Kohgiluyeh County using Geographic Information System (GIS). This cross-sectional study was conducted on drinking water resource of Kohgiluyeh County (33 water supplies and 4 heavy metals) in 2013. 264 samples were analyzed in this study. The experiments were performed at the laboratory of Water and Wastewater Company based on Standard Method. The Atomic Adsorption was used to evaluate the amount of heavy metals. The results were mapping by Geographic Information System software (GIS 9.3) after processing of parameters. Finally, the data were analyzed by SPSS 16 and Excel 2007. The maximum amount of each heavy metal and its resource were shown as follow: Nickel or Ni (Source of w(12), 124ppb), Arsenic or As (w33, 42 ppb), Mercury or Hg (w22 and w(30), 96ppb), Lead or Pb (w(21), 1553ppb). Also, the GIS maps showed that Lead in the central region was very high, Mercury and Arsenic in the northern region were high and Nickel in the eastern and western regions was high. The Kriging method and Gauss model were introduced as best method for interpolation of these metals. Since the concentration of these heavy metals was higher than standard levels in most drinking water supplies in Kohgiluyeh County and these high levels of heavy metals can cause the adverse effects on human health; therefore, the environmental and geological studies are necessary to identify the pollution resource and elimination and removal of heavy metals.