IMPACTS OF URANIUM AND SOME HEAVY ELEMENTS CONTENTS ON THE GROUND WATER QUALITY OF EL-MISSIKAT AREA, EASTERN DESERT, EGYPT

BAKRY, AHMED R.; ABD EL MONSIF, MOHAMED; MANAA, EL-SAYED A.; ABDO, ABDO A.

doi:10.21608/nssj.2020.265531

IMPACTS OF URANIUM AND SOME HEAVY ELEMENTS CONTENTS ON THE GROUND WATER QUALITY OF EL-MISSIKAT AREA, EASTERN DESERT, EGYPT

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Nuclear Materials Authority, P.O 530. El-Maadi, Cairo, Egypt

10.21608/nssj.2020.265531

Abstract

Uranium beside some heavy elements contents in some rock, ground and well water samples of El-
Missikat area, Eastern Desert, Egypt have been analyzed to decide the water suitability in El-Missikat area
for human and animals uses. For this purpose, the uranium analysis has been performed using different
techniques include UV/VIS Spectrophotometry, N2-Laser Fluorimetric (UA-3) and Inductively Coupled
Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) techniques. In this work, ten different samples varied between
rocks and water samples were collected from El-Missikat locality (four rock samples, three ground water
samples beside three well water samples) and chemically analysed. The obtained results indicated that, the
average concentrations of uranium and heavy elements (Pb and Cd) determined by ICP-MS in the water
samples were higher than the recommended permissible limits. The acheived results show that, the well
water has risky levels of uranium and heavy elements contents which severly impacts the health of users.
The ptesent study recommends that, the well water in the Missikat area should not be used as drinking
water source.