Distribution of some Heavy Metals Pollution Caused byAl- Daura Refinery in the Surrounding Region

Due to the higher increase in the oil industry activities in Iraq, since there are a little information of the environmental status of the areas around the refinery locations, and the concerns of a possible environmental pollution that will cause health and life threats to living organisms, this study was carried out.To understand the status of heavy metals pollution in areas inside and surrounding Al-Daura refinery activities, (17) testing locations were chosen, ten locationsoutsidethe refinery and sevenlocationsinside it.One additional location was chosen in a rural (control) area, in the University of Baghdad, to compare between the heavy metals concentration in the study area and a sample from the rural area not affected by the pollution. The soil samples have been taken from (5 and 60 cm) depth from the top surface of the soil. Three samples were taken from each depth for each location to take an average of results.All the samples of soil were taken during the period from Dec/2010 to Feb/2011.The experimental work has been includes the heavy metals concentrations, such as Zinc, Nickel, Lead and Cadmium, have been measured at each selected depth for each testing locations.The results indicate that the mean concentration of Zn and Ni is (62.4 µg/g) and (100.5 µg/g) respectively and this valuesexceeded the mean allowable value by (Alloway, 1995 [2]; Kabata-Pendias and Pendias, 1992 [6]).The most concentrations of Zn, Ni and Pb, with some exceptions, accumulate at the top soil and decrease with the depth except Cd

A Comparative Study of Total and Bioavailable Cadmium and Zinc Concentrations and Distributions among Different Land Use Types within Baghdad City

Total and bioavailable levels of Cd and Zn in topsoil (0–20) cm taken from four different land use types (residential, commercial, industrial and mixed) of the urban area of Bagdad, Iraq, were analyzed by the flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. This was with a view to appraising the influence of a variety of anthropogenic activities on heavy metal contamination of the urban soil. Results showed that the range of Cd and Zn were (0.00-6.35) mg/kg and (5.20-219.95) mg/kg respectively. As compared with the calculated world average of unpolluted soils, cadmium displays higher concentrations while the zinc concentration was within this common world range. The level of pollution was assessed using geoaccumulation index (Igeo), for all land use types Igeo decreasing order, followed the order of (Cd> Zn). The relative bioavailability for Cd, and Zn has been observed as 2.46-5 % and 2.80-9.78 % respectively. It can be concluded that, although total concentrations of the examined heavy metals were generally high, but at the same time the bioavailable ones were relatively low. This can be an indicator that with the recent environmental factors (alkaline to sub-alkaline soil pH), the toxicity of heavy metals to humans was in its minimum level

RESIDENTIAL WATER DEMAND ANALYSIS IN HILLA CITY

Abstract This paper investigates the analysis of residential water demand for the city of Hilla which is the main town in Babylon government in Iraq( Population of about 258568 person , living in an area of 55 Km 2 according to Central Committee of Statistics -Babylon Census Directorate -1997) along with determining the factors that affect such demand for the period from the 1 st of January to the end of August -2004. The cross-section data which was weekly observed was collected by a survey made on a sample of randomly chosen dwellings from different districts of the city. A questionnaire survey was also made to collect all necessary information seemed useful in estimating the daily consumption of domestic water. Demand relations are estimated for total residential, winter, summer, and Sprinkling demands. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was employed to find the structural relationship between water demand per household per day and household characteristics (factors) for each type of demand. All demand models were fitted in log-linear form. In this survey, the average daily water demand for the city of Hilla was estimated to be 1721 The most significant factors affecting the demand appear in the fitted equation. Of these factors, household size was found to be significant variable in all demand models, while number of washbasins variable was found to be the significant variable in the total, winter, and summer model. The total built -up area of the house and number of showers were found to be the significant variables in the total and summer models. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com

AIR POLLUTANTS MITIGATION BY USING VARIOUS FORMS OF PHOTOCATALYTIC CEMENTITIOUS COATINGS MATERIALS

Nitric oxide generated from various sources like car combustion is one of the most surrounding pollutants, which can be transferred from one form to another in the presence of sunlight. Titanium dioxide considered one of the most environmentally friendly active photocatalytics that can be used with building materials safely and effectively to react with nitric oxides. To study the possibility for the reduction of air pollutants like nitric oxides, two types of substrates coatings were prepared. First, mixing nano particles of TiO2 with cement paste in two percents 3% and 6%. Second, mortar substrates coated with nano TiO2 aqueous solution. Two coating methods have been used dip and spray. A laboratory test procedure was adopted to assess the performance of the prepared photoactive specimens. The specimens were subjected to NO gas and there efficiency in gas removal was monitored with time. Results showed the effectivity of coating building materials with titanium dioxide, the removal of gaseous pollutants like nitric oxide reached to 98.85% when spray and dip methods are used. Mixing nano titanium with a percent of 3% was also efficient in the removal of nitric oxides, the removal reached to 97%. It was concluded that spray method was more practical to be used