Heavy Metal Estimation and Quality Assurance Parameters for Water Resources in the Northern Region of Pakistan

Abstract

The current study investigates the water quality parameters of drinking water resources in District Neelam (DNLM), Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK), Northwestern Pakistan. The studied area has been recently reported with many waterborne diseases, which probed this analytical study. The samples were aseptically collected from springs, taps, and surface water bodies. The water quality parameters, such as physical, microbiological, anions, and heavy metals, were tested. Results showed that the electrical conductance (EC) and total dissolved solids (TDS), were 974.60 µS/cm and 912.10 mg/L, respectively, exacerbating the quality of drinking water in DNLM. For microbial water testing, we used 3M-Petrifilms as a detection source, which could separate coliform bacteria from E. coli by creating unique surface chromophores. Out of sixty collected samples, 76% had bacterial contamination. Nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate (9.8, 15.0, and 15.1 mg/L), were also surpassing the safe limits of the World Health Organization (WHO) standards for water quality measurement. The heavy metals, i.e., As, Cr, Cu, and Pb were also tested in current analysis. Pb and Cr (0.04 mg/L and 0.06 mg/L) exceeded from safe drinking water guidelines of the WHO and more than 50% of the collected samples had Pb as a major water pollutant in DNLM. Poor waste management, open sludge discharge, lack of municipality measures, and mineral leaching into the freshwaters of DNLM due to mining and metal extraction processes were the main sources of water pollution in the region. The inorganic pollutants were responsible for the sudden rise of different malignancies and other fatal diseases (vital organ failures and reproductive disorders) in the region, which has not been reported in the past. The current investigation yielded useful baseline data of the drinking water reserves of NW Pakistan that could help to develop techniques for the mitigation of water pollutants present in the region.

Determination of Water Quality Indices and Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution of Drinking Water Sources in Thimphu

“…The study analyzed ten heavy metals in Thimphu's drinking water sources and found all concentrations to be below MPL set by the BDWQS and WHO, indicating compliance with national and international drinking water quality standards 5,7 . Similar studies conducted in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan all exceeded the MPL [18][19][20] . The contamination with heavy metals may be attributed to poor waste management, open sludge discharge, lack of municipality measures, electronic waste, pesticide application and mining activities 21,22 .…”

“…The HPI value of 100 is considered as a critical pollution concentration with respect to heavy metals. HPI results were classified as low (<15), medium (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30), or high (>30) pollution. As shown in Table 4, all water sources had HPI value of <15, the sources are classified as low pollution by heavy metals.…”

Biodiversity and Challenges of Honey Bee Population in Pakistan

“…Some contaminations exceed the limits recommended for human consumption. Hayder et al [70] reported that about half of the water resources in the northern region of Pakistan have high contamination of Pb and Cr (0.04 mg/L and 0.06 mg/L) which is higher than the safe drinking water guidelines of the WHO. Shakir et al [71] also reported the high contamination of rivers, soil, and air by Hg, As, Pb, Cd, Zn and Fe oxides, Ni, Cr, Cu, Co, and Mg.…”