RESEARCH PROPOSAL

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION ANALYSIS OF THE HEAVY METALS IN WATER

AND SEDIMENTS OF GOMAL ZAM DAM, SOUTH WAZIRISTAN, PAKISTAN;
FOR POTENTIAL RISK ASSESMENT

Introduction

Heavy metals are well known hazardous pollutants because of their toxicity and persistant
bio-accumulative nature in the environmental compartments (Krishna et al., 2009). Essential
heavy metals are magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), copper (Cu) sodium (Na), manganese (Mn), zinc
(Zn), calcium (Ca), and potassium (K) (Khan et al., 2019), and non-essential or toxic metals
including chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and arsenic (As) (Wagh et al., 2018;
Korkmaz et al., 2019). If essential metals were lower than required quantities, it cause deficiency
effects by influencing normal function of human body such as fatigue, hair loss, poor healing of
wounds and hypotension (Ouyang et al., 2002). However, maximum intake of Mn and Cu in
drinking water can induce mental diseases such as Manganism and Alzheimer (Dieter et al.,
2005). Heavy metals like Hg, Cr, Cd, As, and Pb are extremely toxic and lethal even in minute
quantities. The toxic effects include irritability, headache, nerve damages, abdominal pain, lung
cancer etc (Saddique et al., 2018; Ullah et al., 2019).

Water and sediments are most important indicators for health status of an aquatic system
like lake or stream (Ullah et al., 2019). Heavy metals were released into aquatic system from
natural (weathering and erosion of bedrock or mineralized zone) and anthropogenic (mining,
industrial, and domestic waste water) sources (Muhammad et al., 2011). The sediment act as sink
for heavy metals concentration of water and also a source in aquatic environment (Qu et al.,
2018). Due to which sediments are known to plays a significance role in inducation of heavy
metals concentration in water (Ullah et al., 2019).

Recently, heavy metals contamination in sediment and water has been focused in various
part of the world (Patel et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2019). The presence of heavy metal has been
observed in water and sediments from southeren Pakistan (Arain et al., 2009). However, water
quality characterization of Gomal Zam Dam and tributaries were rarely studied. The study area
host rich mineralization ophiolites in the Suleiman fold belt (Baluchistan) and sedimentary rocks
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(Ullah et al., 2019). Therefore, this study is aim to determine the heavy metal concentration in

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sediment and water of Gomal Zam Dam and feeding tributaries. Heavy metals concentration will be
used for determining the potential risk to human health and aquatic system.

Study Area

The proposed area for the study is Gomal Zam dam and feeding tributaries, located at
Khajuri Kachen, south Waziristan District about 100 km away from Tank District of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan (Fig. 1). Gomal Zam Dam is the first hydro mega project (17.4
MW power producing capacity) built on Gomal River. The Gomal River shared boundries with
Baluchistan and the south Wazirstan District.The height of Gomal Zam Dam is (133 m). The
dam enclose the Gomal river, a tributary of the Indus River, at Khajuri Kach, where the Gomal
river cross through a confined canyon. Gomal river is 400 km long river having drainage areas in
Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Gomal Zam Dam are mostly used for irrigation purpose and
power generation.

Fig. 1. Location map showing proposed study area, of Gomal Zam Dam South Wazirstan
(modified after Geological Map of GSP (Khan, 2006).

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Aim and Objectives
This study aimed to evaluate the quality of water and sediments for drinking and irrigation
purpose. The aim will be achived by the given below objectives:

i. To determine the physicochemical parameters including heavy metal concentration in

sediment and water

ii. To investigate the water quality for drinking and irrigation purposes

iii. To calculate the pollution quantification factors and potential risk assessment for heavy
metals

Methodology

The study will be carried out in two phases elaborated below.

Field work

Field work will be held in target study area for collecting water and sediments samples.
Water samples will be collected from different locations of the Gomal Zam Dam and tributaries
including Gomal river and Zhob river in pre-cleaned polythene bottles of high density. Samples
collected in small bottles will acidified with nitric acid on spot. Basic parameters such as total
dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), pH and salinity will be measured using
Electrochemical Analyzer (CONSORT C 931) in field. The sediment samples will be collected
using Hand Auger from the same point where water samples were collected. All collected
samples will be stored in clean zip polythene bags and marked properly. Latitudes and longitudes
of each sampling point will be measured using global positioning system (GPS) or distribution
map on Geographic information system (GIS) software. Collected water and sediments samples
will be shifted to the laboratory.

Laboratory work

Physical parameters like turbidity will be examined using turbidity meter. Anions like
chloride (Cl) sulfate (SO4), and nitrate (NO3) will be analyzed with the help of
spectrophotometer DR 2800. Water samples will be processed for heavy metals including Cu,

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Cd, Cr, Ni, Zn, Co, and Pb by using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS,
Perkin Elmer Nexlon 350x) and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer ( AAS, Perkin
Elmer Analyst, PEA 700). Other elements such like K, Ca, Fe, Mg, Mn and Na etc will be
examined with the help of AAS in the laboratory.

Sediments samples will be air dried, mottle and mished using 2 mm pan. Then the samples
will be mixed with aqua regia (HCL:HNO3, 3:1) and kept for twelve hours. Solution will be
heated on hot plate for 3-4 hours until get transparent solution. After that the prepared solution
will be filter with the help of Whatman filter paper (45 µm). The dilution of these samples will
be carried out with deionized water (Ullah et al., 2019).

Risk Assessment

Human are mostly exposed to heavy metals through direct ingestion of contaminated
water. The heavy metals focusing were assessed for the average daily intake (ADI) and hazard
quotient (HQ) values for the consummers (children and adults).

ADI= Cn× DI/BW (1)

HQ= CDI/RfD (2)

Where “Cn” represents mean concentrations for heavy metals, DI mean daily intake which
is 2 L for each child and adult, BW shows body weight of individual 70 Kg for adults and 32.6
Kg for children. HQ represent the hazard quotient which is unit less. RfD: stands for reference
dose of respective heavy metals Ullah et al. (2019).

Pollution quantification factor

The pollution quantification features such as ecological risk (ERI), contamination factor
(CF) and pollution load index (PLI) will be investigated for heavy metal concentrations of the
proposed study area using following equation adopted from literature Ullah et al (2019).

CF = Cn/Bn (3)

Cn (concentration of heavy metal), Bn (background value).

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 The Pollution load index (PLI) will investigated for sediments in proposed study area by
taking nth root product of the nCF. while the PLI value > 1 shows contamination and < 1,
demonstrates no contamination.

PLI = (CF1×CF2 × CF3 × …CFn)1/n (4)

The ecological risk index will be calculated of each heavy metal for output of toxic-
response factors (Tr) with CF values Muhammad et al. (2019).

ERI = Tr × CF (5)

Statiscal Analysis

Statiscal analysis using MS Excel and statistical package for social sciences 25 (Chi-cago,
SPSS Inc, IL, USA) and interpolation tool of Arc GIS software will be used for Geo-spatial
analysis.

Significance of the Study

Current study will help to determine the concentrations of heavy metal both sediments
and water of proposed study area. This study will give outset information relate to concentration
of heavy metals in water and sediments of Gomal Zam Dam. The study will give us current
status of both drinking water and irrigation purposes in the study area. The data will be shared
with scientific and local society by publishing in international journals of well repute.

Research plan

Time Frame
S. No Task/ Activity
1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter
1 Research Proposal and Field work
Literature Review
2
Laboratory work
3

4 Data analysis and interpretation

5 Thesis Writing and Submission

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