Using Heavy Metals Pollution Indices for Assessment of Tigris River Water, Baghdad, Iraq

What is it about?

The study objectives were: (1) measurement of the concentration of five impotent heavy metals (Ni, Zn, Pb, Cd, and Al) in the Tigris water; (2) obtaining a general ecological perspective on the water quality of this sector of river water by using different ecological indices depending on the concentration of heavy metals, such as the pollution index, metal index, contamination factor, degree of contamination, ecological risk factors, and potential ecological risk index. Furthermore, this study is considered the first of its kind in this section of the river since the war in 2003. As well, there is no study evaluating the ecological and toxicity potential of heavy metals. For this, the data obtained from this research can be used as a reference in the next studies.

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Photo by Gianluca Bei on Unsplash

Photo by Gianluca Bei on Unsplash

Why is it important?

It is worth noting why we applied different indices. The answer to this question is that each index is specialized for a specific purpose with a special formula. Pollution index (PI) We used this index as a single index to assess the impact of each element separately. Metal index (MI): we applied this index as an integrated index to examine the cumulative effect of each heavy metal. It is useful for evaluating the quality of drinking water. Potential ecological risk index (PERI) is a useful index to evaluate the toxicity and biomagnification potential of heavy metals in aquatic systems and provides us with real-risk information. Depending on the following four premises: contamination factor (Cf), contamination degree (Cd), toxic response factor (Ti), and ecological risk factor (Er)

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