Publication Details
Abstract
The major challenge in Iraq, particularly the river Tigris is surface water due to heavy metal contamination. The paper was applied in the identification of the effectiveness of a water treatment plant- Al- Shirqat, Saladin Governorate by the analysis of 6 samples, comprised of 3 samples of raw water influent and 3 samples of treated water effluent. The trace and vital elements were identified using the Flame Atomic Absorption Technology in order to find out the quality of water and the risks posed by water to human health. The results revealed that treatment process was quite effective in enhancing all the physicochemical parameters (p < 0.01), and the percentages of removing were 33% by Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and 87% by Copper (Cu). Removal rates were 75% and 57% in the case of Magnesium and Calcium respectively. Water Quality Index (WQI) also had an improvement of 34.2 and Hazard Index (HI) was also reduced to 0.08 than 0.17. Since the HI was still considerably less than unity (HI < 1), it is ensured that there were no serious non-carcinogenic health effects with the treated water and that the water would be able to match the WHO recommendations of drinking water. The plant was discovered to be very stable in its operations with a coefficient of determination of R2 =.94.