Assessment of selected physicochemical parameters and natural radionuclides in Kelantan's well water / Wan Noorhayani Wan Rosdi
Well water is groundwater that occurs beneath the water table and one of the important drinking water sources for Kelantanese. The residents in Kelantan, especially those in rural and remote areas are highly depending on groundwater as their drinking water and domestic use, which are mainly locat...
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Format: | Thesis |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2016
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Online Access: | http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/17901/ http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/17901/2/TM_WAN%20NOORHAYANI%20WAN%20ROSDI%20AS%2016_5.pdf |
Summary: | Well water is groundwater that occurs beneath the water table and one of the
important drinking water sources for Kelantanese. The residents in Kelantan,
especially those in rural and remote areas are highly depending on groundwater as
their drinking water and domestic use, which are mainly located within acid intrusive
igneous rock that reported to contain high concentrations of natural occurring
radioactive materials (NORMs). A study was conducted with the aim to determine
and assess the water quality parameters: Ca2+, Na+, K+, CI", SO42", U, Th and 40K in
the water resources. Well water samples (dug wells and bore wells) were collected
from 48 locations in 10 districts of Kelantan. In situ measurement were performed to
determine basic physicochemical parameters of the water samples; pH, TDS, DO,
salinity, conductivity and temperature. The concentrations of Ca2+, Na+ and K+ were
determined using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) while the
concentrations of CI", SO4 " were determined using Ion Chromatography (IC). U and
Th were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission
Spectrometer (ICP-OES). The variations of these results were due to the different
geological formations and different surrounding areas of the groundwater systems.
The source of the cations are mainly contributed by natural sources such as calcite,
feldspar and ion exchange process, while most of the anions are from anthropogenic
sources (domestic sewage waste, fertilizer, atmospheric pollution). Based on the basic
parameters measured, the pH values (4.7 - 8.1) of well water were not comply with
the permissible limit given by MOH and WHO. The turbidity values ranged from 0.3
to 52.7 NTU and also were not comply with the permissible limit given by MOH and
WHO. From the activity concentrations of the NORMs, the annual ingestion dose of
the natural radioactive materials is lower than WHO recommended value. The various
sources of the chemicals in the groundwater systems were classified using PCA. Four
principal components were extracted that covered 77.12% of the total variance. The
results indicate that K+ and 40K, are from the same sources. Similarly for the U and Th
that are from granite rock, CI" and SO42" are from anthropogenic sources and Ca2+
from calcite rock materials. |
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