Impact of Land Uses on Drinking Water Quality in Selected Areas of Lahore City

Abstract

The biggest threat to the quality of rapidly diminishing groundwater resources is the uncontrolled pollution by different human activities such as industries, sewage/wastewater drains, and agricultural practices. In the present study, water samples were collected and analyzed for selected physicochemical parameters including toxic metals for determining the impact of land uses on the ground water quality of Lahore, Pakistan. Our results showed that water of three sites namely Shadman, Samnabad and Township had the TDS above 300 mgL-1 and this value was comparatively greater than samples of other areas. Only one site named Ravi Town showed the extremely low concentration of DO i.e. 1.6 mgL-1. All the heavy metals values were within the permissible limit as per world health organization (WHO) guidelines except for iron and silver. However, significant differences were present among the water samples of selected locations which indicated strong influence of type of land use on ground water quality. Monitoring of such activities by government departments is the deer need for conserving the quality of drinking water of this mega city