Monitoring of the Chemical Composition of Rainwater in a Semi-Urban Area in the Northern West of Turkey

In this study, the effect of possible pollutant sources on rainwater was investigated in Gebze, where is one of the most important industrial activity zones in the coastal district of Turkey. For this purpose, the collection of twenty-three samples were carried out from October 2019 to March 2020 to describe the chemical composition of the rainwater and possible sources of atmospheric emissions (major ions and trace elements) and finally to establish data of those species in the monitoring region. The pH range in the samples varied between 5.81 and 7.27 (average pH: 6.51). pH of the samples was predominantly neutral. the EC values of the 23 rainwater samples changed within a range of 22.1 μS cm-1-126.2 μS cm-1 (average EC: 63.0 μS cm-1). Dealing between EC values and Ca2+ concentrations of samples (good positive correlation (R2 = 0.84)) in graph) can be thought that dust particles, which include a significant amount of calcite and similar type of minerals, act as carriers for soluble solid materials in atmosphere. The order of percentage contribution of each ion species to total ion composition in rainwater was: Ca2+>Na+>SO42->Cl->Mg2+>NO3->NH4+>K+>PO43->NO2->F-. The most abundant ions (Ca2+, Na+ and SO42-) contributed approximately 45%, 13% and 11%, respectively. High Ca2+ profile points out construction activities, agricultural activity and various industrial activities producing building materials around the sampling site. The trend of trace elements (μg L-1) based on concentrations during the whole study period was: Al(34.52)>Fe(26.03)>Ba(20.67)>Mn(18.06)>B(16.39)>Sr(16.27)>Cu(10.42), respectively. Consequently, concentrations of ions and trace elements in rainwater samples collected in this study were compared with previous studies from similar locations in Turkey and in other countries.

Keywords:

Chemical Composition, Major Ions, Trace Metals, Rainwater Semi-Urban Area,

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