Heavy Metals Pollution Assessment in Groundwater Resources of Hamadan-Bahar Plain in 2018

The qualitative assessment of groundwater resources as the most important sources of drinking and agricultural water is very important. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the quality of heavy metals in groundwater resources of the Hamadan-Bahar plain in 2018 using water quality indices. In so doing, a total of 120 groundwater samples were collected from 20 stations during the spring and summer seasons and the values of physico-chemical parameters were determined based on the standard methods and also the content of heavy metals was determined using inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICP). The results showed that the mean concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn (µg /L) in the samples in the spring season were 5.08, 0.260, 1.05, 2.70, 1.50, 0.490, 1.50, 7.48, and 1.75, respectively, and in the summer season were 20.7, 0.220, 0.950, 7.12, 1.34, 0.490, 1.29, 8.23, and 2.08, respectively and except for As in the summer season, the mean content of other elements was lower than maximum permissible limits established by WHO for drinking water. Meanwhile, the mean values of Cd, HPI, HEI, MI, and PoS indices in the spring season with -7.51, 9.91, 1.42, 1.42, and 328, respectively, indicate the water quality was categorized as low, low, low, low and moderately affected and in the summer season with -5.90, 10.0, 3.04, 3.04, and 673, respectively, were categorized as low, low, low, moderately affected, and high pollution. Due to the extensive use of agricultural inputs, especially chemical and organic fertilizers and chemical pesticides containing heavy metals by farmers in the study area, the possibility of increasing the concentration of heavy metals in the soil and their penetration into groundwater aquifers will not be unexpected in the medium term. Therefore, periodic monitoring in groundwater resources of the study area is recommended.