STUDY OF PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SURFACE AND GROUND WATER

Abstract

Of all the natural resources, water is unarguably the most essential and precious. Life began in water and life is nurtured by water. Ninety seven percent of the world’s water is found in oceans. Only 2.5% of the world’s water are non-saline fresh water. Saudi Arabia is a desert country with no permanent rivers or lakes and very little rainfall. Water is scarce and extremely valuable and with the country’s rapid growth, the demand for water is increasing. Seven samples of water are collected, six samples from Wells (1-6) and the last sample from Al-Mallah Valley Dam, Mukhwa (7), Al-Mukhwah, in order to find impurities and pollutants and found some suitable solution. Some physical properties of water are measured such as turbidity, conductivity, pH and also, some pollutants such as iron, manganese, nitrate, nitrite fluoride, phosphate as well as calcium, magnesium, sulfate and chloride as well as detection of some microorganisms. The results shown that, the water of Al-Mallah Valley Dam has a high percentage of turbidity as a result of contamination of water with clay, plant residues and also some dead animals. On the other hand, the samples of ground water have high conductivity and high value of fluoride, nitrite, nitrate contents as well as Mn and Fe. Also the result of microorganisms showed the presence of some the water of Al-Mallah Valley Dam can be treated with a very simple method and become suitable for drinking. Also ground water can be treated with a suitable method to reduce the total hardness and some pollutants. But its content of fluoride is higher than that of gulf specifications so it must be treated before used.