Investigation of the Content of Heavy Metals in Water Sources of Kharkiv City, Ukraine

The negative impact of the anthropogenic factor on water bodies, including those ones located within urban ecosystems is analyzed in this paper. The legislative support of the specific requirements for water quality in different countries is considered. The purpose of the work is to investigate the qualitative and quantitative state of water from individual sources located in an urban ecosystem and determine its suitability for the consumption. The Shatylovskу spring, the Karpovsky spring, the spring near the Nemyshlya river, located within the Kharkіv city (Ukraine), were researched. Heavy metal identification was carried out using X-ray fluorescence analysis. It was found that all samples contained basically the same set of basic elements - strontium, copper, iron and chromium. Individual differences were associated with the presence of different amounts of tungsten, zinc, gallium, selenium, bromine, etc. in all samples. It was found that in the samples, the lead content reached 0.015 mg/dm³ (Karpovsky spring), nickel 0.007 mg/dm³ (Shatylovskу spring), and manganese 0.205 mg/dm³ (the spring near the Nemyshlya river). The copper content ranged from 0.029 to 0.154 mg/dm³, iron from 0.041 to 0.456 mg/dm³, and chromium from 0.015 to 0.065 mg/dm³. The obtained results make it possible to more efficiently manage water resources within the urban systems studied and indicate the need for additional water purification of all natural sources studied before using the water from those sources for drinking purposes.

Keywords: water quality; urban ecosystem; water objects; heavy metal; X-ray fluorescence analysis

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