Assessment of heavy metals in Bahsas water treatment plant of Tripoli

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the presence of heavy metals in the Bahsas WTP in Tripoli and improve the quality of water by a recently developed ion exchange prototype system in the Environmental Engineering Laboratory, the University of Balamand in case the water is contaminated. The system was previously successful in removing nitrate and nitrite from the same Bahsas WTP. Water samples were obtained from the main source and after each process of the treatment plant and then were analyzed for the heavy metals of the studied samples by ICPMS technique in the EEL. The prototype was renovated and prepared to be used for the removal of heavy metals from drinking water. Lewatit TP 207, which is a weakly acidic, macro-porous cation exchange resin with chelating iminodiacetate groups is chosen as ion exchangers since one of its specialty the extraction of heavy metal cations from weakly acidic to weakly basic solutions even in the presence of many complexing agents. The results showed that all heavy metal elements of raw water and water treated were below the Lebanese standards. This means that the groundwater sources are not contaminated by heavy metals as a result of their low concentrations of all tested elements such as Mn, Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu, and Ni, etc. and the BWTP processes are efficient for the removal of these contaminants even at low concentrations.