Water Quality Assessment and Environmental Impact of Heavy Metals in the Red Sea Coastal Seawater of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia

• Published in: Water (Basel) Vol. 15; no. 1; p. 201
• Main Authors: El-Sorogy, Abdelbaset S., Youssef, Mohamed, Al-Hashim, Mansour H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.01.2023
• Subjects: Anthropogenic factors; Antimony; Arabian Gulf; Cadmium; Chemical analysis; Chromium; Coasts; Cobalt; Contamination; Crude oil; environmental impact evaluation; Gas production; Heavy metals; Human influences; Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry; Lead; Manganese; Mercury; Metal industry; Natural gas; Oil and gas production; Pollution; Pollution index; Quality assessment; Quality control; Quality standards; Salinity; Sea-water; Seawater; seawaters; Sediments; Statistical analysis; Water analysis; Water quality; Water quality assessments; Yanbu coast; Zinc; Saudi Arabia; India; Red Sea
• ISSN: 2073-4441; 2073-4441
• DOI: 10.3390/w15010201

The Yanbu industrial city along the Red Sea coast includes industries associated with crude oil and natural gas production and refining and support industries that produce manufactured goods for domestic and/or internal consumption. This study investigates the potential environmental impact and the possible sources of heavy metals (HMs), and it evaluates the quality of coastal surface seawater in the vicinity of Yanbu, along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. Thirty seawater samples have been collected and analyzed using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) in order to determine the concentration values of Fe, Cr, Pb, Sb, Mn, Cu, Zn, Al, Ni, As, Cd, Co, and Hg. Reported HMs averages (μg/L) are in the following sequence: Ni (4.424) > As (4.297) > Cu (2.447) > Zn (1.667) > Al (1.133) > Fe (0.983) > Cr (0.723) > Mn (0.328) > Cd (0.309) > Pb (0.276) > Sb (0.238) > Co (0.144) > Hg (0.058). The contamination index (Cd) showed low contamination levels in all of the analyzed samples, whereas the index of heavy metal pollution (HPI) revealed medium contamination levels in 28 samples and low levels in two samples. Reported high HMs variations within samples are attributed to the multiplication of sources. The statistical analyses indicated anthropogenic sources for Cd, Co, Hg, Zn, and Ni, which may have originated from industrial, farming, or fishing activities around Yanbu city, while the remaining metals might be originated from combined lithogenic and human sources.