Assessment of Environmental Contamination by Toxic Heavy Metals in Settled Dust in Al-Diwaniyah City, Iraq

Abstract

Abstract Settled dust is considered one of the environmental pollutants that are dangerous to human health and other living organisms, especially in our country, Iraq, which is characterized by the frequent occurrence of dust storms and the paucity of rainfall. Therefore, this study came in order to calculate the amounts of settled dust on some areas of the Iraqi city of Diwaniyah and in various directions during summer seasons 2022, as well as to measure the concentrations of some toxic heavy metals present in this dust and to know the extent of pollution of the city’s environment through the use of some approved pollution indicators in different parts of the world. The results of the study showed that the area located near the Department of nationality in Al-Diwaniyah recorded the highest amount of settled dust, amounting to (139.419 g/m2/month) during the month of June, and that the industrial area recorded the highest rate of settled dust during the study period, with average (116.172 g/m2/month), and the general dust precipitation rate amounted to (105,12 g/m2/month), The average concentrations of heavy metals ranged between(1.113-2.695, 14.689-53.010, 16.103-42.353, 33.769-64.162) for the metals Cd, Pb, Cu, and Cr respectively. While the studied pollution indicators showed that the dust of the city of Diwaniyah was mostly containing high concentrations of these metals, which calls for taking measures that would reduce pollution rates, especially with regard to the cadmium element, whose concentrations were observed to be higher than the permissible global limits.