Heavy Metals Analysis and Quality Evaluation in Drinking Groundwater around an Abandoned Mine Area of Ouichane (Nador’s Province, Morocco)

Abstract

The eventual polluting of the Ouichane region's groundwater by heavy metals around an abandoned iron mine was investigated. To reach this aim, the research began with a questionnaire survey to assess local people's use of and appreciation for well and spring water, followed by measurement of spatial pollution load of heavy metals: Al, Ag, Fe, Cd, As, Cr, Co, Zn, Pb and Cu for water samples collected from twelve wells and three spring drinks of water using inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry method (ICP). Determining the overall quality of spring and well water for human use was also performed by calculating the heavy metal pollution index (HPI). As result, the survey revealed that 44.90% of the households are not connected to the drinking water network, 97.3% of them use well water, which is highly appreciated, and 88.1% of the population consider its quality to be good to excellent. Meanwhile, the ICP analysis showed that all the water samples contain heavy metals. In fact, the maximum concentrations (expressed in 10 -5 g/l) recorded per element were 9.7 for (Ag), 15 for (Al), 6.9 for (As), 4.5 for (Cd), 5.6 for (Co), 31 for (Cr), 14 for (Cu), 858 for (Fe), 7 for (Pb) and 2.9*10 -5 g/l for (Zn). Moreover, most of the water samples recorded heavy metal values above World Health Organization (WHO) limits, for at least one metal among the ten tested, with high concentrations of iron observed in all samples. The HPI values for the three explored sources (S1, S2 and S3) and for 8 out of 12 wells (P3, P4, P5, P6, P7, P8, P9 and P10) exceed the critical pollution value and identify non-potable water with a high potential of contamination. Consequently, the results of this study raise the question about groundwater around this abandoned mining area, especially in the long term, the use of groundwater could increase because of the succession of years of drought on Moroccan territory and hence may constitute a significant health risk for most of the inhabitants.

The Quality Stability Assessment of a Thermal Spring Used for Therapeutic Purposes

“…but it remains below the concentration recommended by the Moroccan drinking water standards. These elevated levels could result from rock degradation or possibly originate from certain volcanic formations in the region (Tarik et al, 2023). According to the Moroccan standard NM 03.7.001 for human drinking water, water from the Benkachour plant complies with toxic substance standards.…”

Electrochemical Detection of Cd2+, Pb2+, Cu2+ and Hg2+ with Sensors Based on Carbonaceous Nanomaterials and Fe3O4 Nanoparticles

“…Conventional methods for tracing metal detection at low concentrations include atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ], neutron activation analysis and inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry (ICP–OES) [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ], capillary electrophoresis (CE) [ 32 ], ion chromatography ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (IC–UV–Vis) [ 33 , 34 ], inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP–MS) [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ], microwave field hydrothermal method [ 40 , 41 ], X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XFS) [ 42 , 43 , 44 ], etc. Although these methods have the advantage of high sensitivity and selectivity, there are also some aspects that may limit their use in routine analysis and real-time monitoring of HM ion concentration, such as the high cost of instruments, laborious sample preparation steps, the need for a professional experienced in the application of this technique and laborious preconcentration procedures.…”