Abstract:
Water is the most important in shaping the environment and regulating the climate. Water
bodies are used for drinking and other purposes. However, they are easily polluted by
different chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers that are used to grow crops,
wastewater that flows from villages, town and factories. Due to this reason, the pollution of
water bodies deteriorates from time to time. The quality of water is described according to its
physical, chemical and biological characteristics. The main objective of this study was to
examine the levels of selected physicochemical properties and heavy metals content of Ketar
River water. In the study, three sampling sites along the river course have chosen based on
the objectives of the study. After processed with acid digestion methods for heavy metals
determination, the physicochemical parameters were analysed using standard analytical
methodologies and selected heavy metals using inductively coupled plasma/optical emission
spectroscopy (ICP/OES). The accuracy and precision of the optimized procedure was
evaluated by analyzing the digest of the spiked samples and the percentage recoveries
obtained varied from 87.70 to 101.8%. The levels of physicochemical parameters and heavy
metals determined in mg/L were in the ranges TH (32.50 ± 0.67 - 35.00 ± 0.67), TDS (242.77
±1.71 -445.46 ± 2.28), Cl-
(0.94 ± 0.11 - 1.10 ± 0.36), pH (6.19 ± 0.05 -7.17 ± 0.01), EC
(0.11 ± 0.01 - 0.13 ± 0.01), Cd (0.010 ± 0.00 - 0.03 ± 0.002), Cr (0.03 ± 0.00 - 0.041 ±
0.007), Pb (0.081 ± 0.012 - 0.288 ± 0.05) and Zn (0.070 ± 0.003 - 0.095 ± 0.015) were found
to be the highest and the least concentration of the physicochemical parameters and heavy
metals, respectively. One way ANOVA at 95% confidence level indicated that there are a
significant difference in the level of TH and Pb and no significant difference in the levels of
TDS, Cl,
-
pH, EC, Cd, Cr, and Zn in all the samples and the results of Pearson correlation
revealed that there is strong/weak and/or moderate positive/negative correlation between
physicochemical parameters and heavy metals with each other. The obtained values of each
parameter were compared with the standard values set by the world health organization
(WHO), (2008) and Ayers and west cot, FAO, (1976, 1994) drinking water quality standard.
