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Groundwater is a main source of drinking water for people, and even more than half of the world’s population uses groundwater for daily necessities now. The good quality of groundwater is a very important factor, which makes it an ideal source of drinking water. In recent years, the studies about the groundwater quality are increased. The constituents of soil, rocks, and plants might contaminate the groundwater because it is directly in contact with these sources (1,2,3). Heavy metals are one of the most important environmental concerns (4,5). High concentration of heavy metals in groundwater are related to the industrial activities such as mining. Vertical displacement and leaching of heavy metals may occur in the soil profile and contaminate the groundwater (6,7). Many diseases resulted from polluted water are responsible for 80% of all illnesses/deaths in developing countries (8,9). So, it is necessary to assess the quality of ground water sources. The World Health Organization (WHO) (10) and Iranian Standard and Industrial Researches Institute (IS: 1053) (11) present a specified maximum contaminant level for heavy metal levels in water.
Aims of the study:
The aim of this study was to determination the concentration of some heavy metals in the ground water sources in some parts of Qorveh county. Therefore, using Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP), the concentration of four heavy metals (iron, chromium, copper and zinc) were determined and the results compared to the maximum contaminant level specified by the World Health Organization(WHO) and Iranian Standard Institute(IS:1053), using ANOVA test.
 
 

Materials & Methods

Site characterization
The samples which were used in this study, collected from the Qorveh county. Qorveh is located in the eastern part of the Kurdistan province of Iran. It is restricted to the provinces of Hamedan, Bijar, Kermanshah and Sanandaj. Its center is the city of Qorveh which is located in a large plain 93 km east of Sanandaj and northwest of Hamadan and has expanded in the direction of the Sanandaj road towards Hamadan, Iran (Figure 1).
 

Figure 1) Location of the study area
 
Table 1) Geographical position of the 25 groundwater sampling stations

Sample No.	X	Y	Sample No.	X	Y
1	E 11 78 78	N 3878861	13	E 76 89 26	N 3889232
2	E 77 99 60	N 3880279	14	E 76 80 94	N 3889363
3	E 77 92 71	N 3879977	15	E 76 69 91	N 3889613
4	E 77 84 55	N 3879616	16	E 76 37 94	N 3891483
5	E 78 00 74	N 3881805	17	E 76 42 98	N 3892068
6	E 77 98 61	N 3882505	18	E 76 48 95	N 3892617
7	E 77 97 14	N 3882880	19	E 76 46 66	N 3892433
8	E 77 95 27	N 3883322	20	E 76 31 60	N 3891543
9	E 77 90 43	N 3884295	21	E 76 20 51	N 3892041
10	E 77 81 76	N 3885535	22	E 76 12 68	N 3892280
11	E 77 77 77	N 3885999	23	E 76 05 06	N 3892595
12	E 77 70 82	N 3886679	24	E 75 91 12	N 3893750
			25	E 75 96 50	N 3894485

 

Water sampling and analysis
To determine the concentration of heavy metals, 25 sampling locations were selected at the studied area. Geographical positions of the sampling stations are listed in table 1.
Data were collected from drinking water wells in villages and settlements from the Qorveh county, Kurdistan, Iran. New 100- ml high- density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles were used for sampling. Different brands of plastic bottles had previously been thoroughly checked for possible contamination (12). Before sampling, in the field, the bottles were rinsed three times with running water and then filled to the top.
The samples were acidified with 2 ml of concentrated nitric acid (Merck, Ultrapure). The acid was tested for its heavy metal content, using the same analytical procedure for water samples. Finally, the samples were stored in a cool box and transferred to the laboratory. Total levels of iron (Fe), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) were measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP-710 Varian, Australia). Three replicate samples were analyzed from each station.
 
Statistical analysis
The mean levels of heavy metals were compared with 4th edition of World Health Organization (WHO), in 2011 (11) and Iranian Standard and Industrial Researches Institute (IS:1053) (11), using a two-way Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA) test. Probabilities less than 0.05 were considered as significant, statistically (p<0.05). All statistical analyses were performed, using the SPSS 15.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
 
 

Results

The concentration of measured heavy metals are shown in table 2.
According to table 2, the total levels of chromium in the collected samples have been ranged from 0.057 to 0.092 mg/l with the maximum concentration in station number 3. The maximum of an acceptable limit for chromium as per WHO guidelines is 0.05 mg/L. Chromium concentrations in all studied samples are exceeding than WHO standards. The guideline value is not given by IS: 1053 for the chromium content.
Iron levels in the collected water of different wells differed from 0.025 to 0.096 mg/l with the maximum content in station number 23. The maximum of an acceptable limit for iron as per IS: 1053 and WHO is 0.3 mg/L. The observed concentrations of iron at the studied site were within the permissible given by the IS: 1053 and WHO.
The minimum and maximum concentrations of copper at the studied site were 0.015 to 7.618 mg/l, respectively. The maximum concentration of copper has been observed at the station number 2. The maximum of an acceptable limit for copper as WHO guidelines are 2.0 mg/l. Copper levels in all collected samples, except stations 2, 6 and 9 are lower than WHO standards. The maximum of an acceptable limit for copper as per IS: 1053 is 1 mg/l. Copper levels in all collected samples, except stations 2, 6, 9 and 24 are lower than the IS: 1053.
The minimum and maximum levels of zinc were 0.024 to 1.572 mg/1, respectively. The maximum level of it had been reportedin the station 12. No guideline value is given by the World Health Organization for zinc content. The maximum of an acceptable limit for zinc as per IS: 1053 is 3.0 mg/l. Zinc concentration levels in all studied samples are lower than the IS: 1053.
The comparison levels of studied heavy metals in that area are shown in Figures 2-5.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Table 2) Heavy metal concentrations in sampled groundwater (mean±S.E.)

Sampling No.	Cu	Cr	Fe	Zn
1	0.278±0.001	0.079±0.001	0.050±0.002	0.043±0.153
2	7.618±0.011	0.084±0.001	0.053±0.001	0.024±0.176
3	0.496±0.007	0.092±0.005	0.053±0.005	0.025±0.005
4	0.15±0.005	0.057±0.001	0.041±0.256	0.099±0.001
5	0.132±0.153	0.080±0.219	0.051±0.001	0.103±0.002
6	3.618±0.144	0.079±0.001	0.043±0.209	0.094±0.145
7	0.093±0.234	0.077±0.176	0.048±0.145	0.035±0.006
8	0.443±0.143	0.082±0.123	0.046±0.001	0.267±0.238
9	2.238±0.176	0.079±0.145	0.050±0.005	0.062±0.003
10	0.451±0.003	0.082±0.132	0.047±0.216	0.267±0.005
11	0.015±0.129	0.080±0.002	0.055±0.001	0.052±0.003
12	0.634±0.001	0.072±0.003	0.042±0.003	1.572±0.002
13	0.258±0.009	0.080±0.009	0.051±0.153	0.462±0.006
14	0.246±0.341	0.074±0.005	0.042±0.002	0.571±0.234
15	0.474±0.005	0.082±0.216	0.057±0.006	0.057±0.153
16	0.750±0.154	0.078±0.235	0.038±0.006	0.871±0.001
17	0.320±0.006	0.077±0.001	0.051±0.002	0.061±0.231
18	0.186±0.421	0.079±0.003	0.050±0.145	0.065±0.176
19	0.240±0.243	0.081±0.005	0.046±0.005	0.048±0.005
20	0.019±0.005	0.079±0.176	0.045±0.176	0.047±0.145
21	0.241±0.243	0.085±0.219	0.085±0.147	0.078±0.005
22	0.274±0.241	0.075±0.003	0.054±0.235	0.089±0.001
23	0.211±0.239	0.074±0.001	0.096±0.007	1.247±0.004
24	1.124±0.172	0.065±0.003	0.041±0.256	0.785±0.241
25	0.521±0.175	0.084±0.001	0.025±0.004	0.541±0.352

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Figure 2) Concentrations of Cr in sampled groundwater and WHO
 

Figure 3) Concentrations of Fe in sampled groundwater, WHO and IS

Figure 4) Concentrations of Cu in sampled groundwater, WHO and IS
 

Figure 5) Concentrations of Zn in sampled groundwater and IS