War-related contamination of water and sediment of the Tigris River within the urban area of Mosul leads to seasonally independent exceedances of the WHO limit values for Cd, Pb, Cr, and Ni up to a factor of 100 in water and sediments. Furthermore, exceedances consistently occur for conductivity, PO43-, and SO42-, as well as sporadically for salinity and COD in water samples, and consistently for salinity in sediment samples, highlighting the direct impact of war (amunition, ignition of sulfur fields) as well as indirect effects (destroyed wastewater infrastructure). Conflict-related emissions from the former conflict zone (S5-S7) are highlighted by the sudden increases in load from S4 to S5, although partially masked by discharge of highly polluted water from the Khosr River (between S3 and S4). Due to sorption to sediments and presumed wind-borne discharge of highly polluted particles into the Tigris River, sediments at S10 on the southern edge of Mosul showed the highest pollutant loads. Significant statistical differences were observed by T-test analyses for E.C., TDS, salinity, COD, PO43-, NO3-, SO42-, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cr, and Ni for water samples as well as salinity, Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cr for the sediment samples for seasonal comparison. Since the percentage difference of water samples at S4-S7 is smaller than upstream and downstream, contaminant input is not limited to rainwater, but also via year-round infiltration of highly polluted wastewater from the surrounding valleys or suburban areas as well as presumably polluted groundwater or windblown particulate input.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.