An Assessment on the Safety of Drinking Water Resources in Yasouj, Iran

Mohsen Farzin, Azar Asadi, Katarina Pukanska and Martina Zelenakova
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Mohsen Farzin: Department of Forest, Range, and Watershed Management, Yasouj University, Yasouj 75918-74934, Iran
Azar Asadi: Department of Gas and Petroleum, Yasouj University, Gachsaran 75918-74831, Iran
Katarina Pukanska: Institute of Geodesy, Cartography and Geographical Information Systems, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnology, Technical University of Kosice, 04001 Košice, Slovakia
Martina Zelenakova: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Kosice, 04001 Košice, Slovakia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-12

Abstract: The health of drinking water is an important criterion for developed countries and around half of the world’s population is deprived of sanitary and safe drinking water. By identifying the time of pollution occurrence and the places that are most sensitive to pollution the management of the quality of drinking water can be planned. Since the landfill for Yasouj, a city in Iran, was located in a higher place than the drinking water wells, which were drilled in a karst aquifer, the safety of the drinking water resources (including eight wells) of Yasouj were investigated in the present study. For this purpose, different parameters, comprising the concentration of eight heavy metals and eight ions, alkalinity, total harness, pH, biological oxygen demand (BOD5) and total coliform, were measured over 12 months and the obtained data were compared with the WHO’s and Iran’s drinking water standards. To assess the measured data statistically, SPSS software was applied. From the reported results, the water characterizations of the wells complied with the mentioned standards; however, four of the wells were more prone to supply higher quality water. It is noted that Hg, Cd, and the total coliform of wells were close to the permissible values reported by both the aforementioned standards. Therefore, the water obtained from wells should be disinfected before using and Hg and Cd concentrations need to be monitored regularly to prevent poisoning. Due to the rapid movement of pollutants in karst areas, it is very important to detect their presence in the water resources over time. Consequently, continuous monitoring and sampling is one of the most important protection dealings for karst aquifers.

Keywords: drinking water resources; landfill; heavy metals; karst aquifer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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