Integration of geophysical investigation and chemical indicators to assess the environmental impact of industrial wastewater for the fertilizer plant west of Basrah

Abstract EN

There is an international tendency towards more comprehensive specifications for a more numbers of indicators of pollution resulting from the water of industrial activities, even more stringent, so that it imposes minimum limits for some high-risk pollutants on humans, environment and environment of plant and animal life, thus, the industry looks at the treatment of industrial wastewater is it an urgent necessity.

The current study included assessing the impact of industrial wastewater and its potential for the chemical fertilizer plant in Khor Al-Zubair area by geophysical interpretation which is completed by a resistivity method integrating measurement of some hydrochemical variations of this water, these included electrical conductivity (EC), (pH) and the concentration of Ammonia NH3 and Nitrates (NO3 -), as well as measuring some of the chemical variations of groundwater in the study area.

The results revealed that the depth of groundwater in the study area is about 5 m, and the study area is affected by the intrusion of saline water more than it is affected by industrial wastewater, in addition, the study area is not suitable for agriculture purposes because of the abundance of debris and existence of transported soil, sediment and debris in the area, as well as existence remains of ancient military sites.

The results of measurement of the chemical variations of industrial wastewater for three sites and for many periods of time with different operating conditions of the plant revealed that the values of these variables are somewhat fluctuating for these periods due to the production efficiency and different operating conditions of the plant.

The most prominent factor that affected in these waters are NH3 concentrations, which recorded some dangerous levels.