Assessment of the Quality of Drinking water of Thari Mirwah Town and Surrounding villages, District Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan

The ground water of Thari Mirwah town, Sindh, Pakistan and its surrounding villages was studied to check the chemical and physical suitability for drinking purpose. We measured several physico-chemical parameters; such as total dissolved salts (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), chlorides, sulfate, phosphorus, nitrate-nitrogen, total hardness, alkalinity and total organic matter. The obtained results were in the range of: pH 6.9-8.1, temperature 25-30 0C, electrical conductivity 540-3140 µS/cm, total dissolved solids 362-2104 mg/L, chlorides 14.8-1657 mg/L, sulfate 69-308 mg/L, phosphate-phosphorus 0.003-0.56 mg/L, nitrate-nitrogen 0.00-9.9 mg/L, total hardness 58-760 mg/L, alkalinity 383-950 mg/L and total organic matter 0.022-0.89 mg/L. All these samples were analyzed using the standard methods of American Public Health Association (APHA) by atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). The concentration of analyzed metals was found in the range of: sodium (Na) 2.57-1066.74 mg/L, calcium (Ca) 8.35-329.33 mg/L, manganese (Mn) 0.003-0.401 mg/L, nickel (Ni) 0.006-0.154 mg/L, zinc (Zn) 0.002-0.533 mg/L, copper (Cu) 0.004-0.169 mg/L, cobalt (Co) 0.00-0.040 mg/L, chromium (Cr) 0.0054-0.0322 mg/L, iron (Fe) 0.002-0.499 mg/L and cadmium (Cd) 0.00-0.014 mg/L. Study reveals that above parameters are not within safe limits of WHO/EPA/EU guidelines and all ground water samples were not fit for drinking and irrigation purposes

Investigation of Essential Metals in Branch, Pericarp and Seed of three Date Varieties at Different Maturity Stages

Date fruit contains a wide range of metals, including essential and toxic elements. The aim of present study was to explore the amount of essential metals in branch, pericarp and seed of the date fruit in order to examine correlation of these metals at various maturity stages. The studied parts are generally considered as waste. Therefore, levels of essential elements such as Na, Mg, Ca, Fe, Mn and Zn were determined in the branch, pericarp and seed of three date varieties ( Dallay wari, Noori and Khaki wari) at four ripening stages (kimri, khalal, rutab and tamar) using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Oven dried samples were digested separately in HNO3 and H2O2 following wet acid digestion method. Analytical results shows that Na, Mg, Fe, Zn, and Mn were not detected in branch, pericarp and seed in Dallay wari variety at tamar stage, while Na and Mn were also absent in branch of Noori at tamar stage, whereas Mn was present in pericarp and seed at tamar stage of Noori variety. However, Mg was not detected in branch and pericarp at rutab and tamar, while Fe was not detected in pericarp at rutab and tamar stage in Khaki wari vareity

Risk assessment of arsenic in ground water of Larkana city

Water is an essential component for the survival of humans and animals. Due to industrialization, water is being contaminated with varying polluting agents, arsenic (As) contamination is one of them. An exclusive study was carried out for the determination of As in groundwater of Larkana city using microwave-assisted digestion followed by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). For that purpose, a total of 110 groundwater samples were collected from 10 union councils (UCs) of the city based on global position system (GPS) method. Results revealed that maximum concentration of As was found 17.0 μg/L in UC-6, while in UC-1, UC-2 and UC-10 the concentration of As was found within the permissible limits of WHO. The minimum and maximum mean concentration of As was found 3.59 μg/L and 6.78 μg/L, respectively. Out of 110 ground water samples of Larkana city, 13 samples were found above the permissible limits (~12% of total samples). Hence, water can be used for drinking purpose with caution