MONITORING HEAVY METALS, CATIONS AND ANIONS LEVELS ANDITS POSSIBLE HEALTH RISKS IN TIGRIS RIVER AT BAGHDADREGION

Abstract

Various heavy metals, cations and anions of the Tigris River water in Baghdad region
were studied during the winter, spring, summer and autumn of 2009, for 4 sampling
sites. In the present investigation the levels of studied heavy metals, cations and anions
were found in the range of (0.011-0.333 mg/L) for As, in the water samples
(undetectable-0.0043 mg/L) for Sb,( 0.011-0.080 mg/L) for Ti, (0.150-0.730 mg/L) for
V, (0.01-1.06 mg/L) for Fe, (0.1-0.4 mg/L) for Zn, (0.011-0.15 mg/L) for Pb, (0.01-0.05
mg/L) for Cd, (0.01-0.04 mg/L) for Ni, (50-290 mg/L) for Ca, (97-270 mg/L) for Mg,
(0.65-1.74 mg/L) for K, (11-38.33) for Na, (35-113 mg/L) for Cl, (150-256 mg/L) for
HCO3, (96-479 mg/L) for SO4, (0.93-3.9 mg/L) for NO3 and (undetectable - 0.360 mg/L)
for PO4. Some parameters like As, V, Fe, Pb, Cd, Mg and SO4 are higher than the
values recommended in international and Iraqi criteria for drinking water, while the rest
ions were within the acceptable limits. In general, the results confirmed that Tigris River
at study area is slightly contaminated with some hazardous heavy metals especially Pb
and Cd which have ability to biological concentration in organisms bodies and that
might affect human health as well as the health of the ecosystem.