Study on heavy metals in Lake Ilopango, El Salvador
Keywords:
El Salvador, Lake Ilopango, Contaminants.Abstract
Lake Ilopango is located between three departments of El Salvador: San Salvador, Cuscatlán, and La Paz. According to Arévalo & Castañeda (2012), the lake fills aquifers, stores water, controls floods in the region, and offers fishing resources and scenic beauty for tourism and recreation. However, in 2015, the Salvadoran government began the extraction of water from the lake to supply the Salvadoran capital with drinking water (Videla, 2015). For this reason, this study investigated the presence and level of concentration of contaminants as part of a water quality monitoring for human consumption. Simple sampling was done at six points on the lake, indicated as: A, B, C, D, E and F. These samples were analyzed by an inductor of plasma coupled by emission of optical spectroscopy (ICP-OES 3300 XL). The results showed evidence of water pollution by heavy metals such as arsenic (As), beryllium (Be), cadmium (Cd), selenium (Se), thallium (Tl) and lead (Pb). Moreover, these contaminants exceeded the limits allowed for human use and consumption established by the US Environmental Protection Agency (epa).
Revista ciencia, cultura y sociedad Vol. 4 No. 1 enero-junio 2017; 7-14
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