Chemical Analysis of El-Malha Crater (Padala) Well Water

Abstract

The objective of this work is to assess the quality of El-Malha Crater (Padala) well water. For comparison, samples of water were collected for analysis, not only from El-Malha Crater (Padala) well, but also from neighboring wells at El-Malha area: Terrol, Black Toll, and El-Malha Old Donkey. Physical and chemical properties as well as concentrations of some cations and anions were determined .The water quality assessment was carried out by comparing the results obtained with the Standards of Chemical and Physical Quality of Drinking Water . The analysis showed that the color of the studied water sample (dark brown) was due to the presence of some transitional metals ions such as iron (1.053mg/l )and manganese (0.057 mg/l); the strong odor was due to the concentration of chemicals such as organic and some inorganic (sulfur and its compounds). The bitter taste was due to the presence of sulfate ion"SO42-" (440mg/l) in the presence of calcium and magnesium, and salty taste was due to the sodium chloride. It was found that some physical properties were considerably high, such as electrical conductivity (91000µS/cm), and total dissolved solids (68.8g/l) which was due to the quantity of dissolved salts present. The pH-value of El-Malha Crater (Padala) Well water was high (9.7), and as such it could be described as alkaline water. The total hardness value was also very high (1950 mg/l) and as such it could be considered as most hard water. The studied water sample was free from toxic metals such as lead (0.00mg/l), arsenic (0.0378mg/l), and selenium (0.0324mg/l), but it was contaminated with chromium (0.258mg/l),hydrogen sulfide (4 mg/l )), and fluoride (105mg/l).