Chemical Quality of Tap Water versus Bottled Water: Evaluation of Some Heavy Metals and Elements Content of Drinking Water in Dakhlia Governorate - Egypt

Water is essential to sustain life, and a satisfactory safe supply must be made available to consumers. Many different chemicals may occur in drinking water. The problems associated with chemical constituents of drinking water arise primarily from their ability to cause significant human health risks after prolonged periods of exposure; of particular concern are contaminants that have cumulative toxic properties, such as heavy metals. This study was done to clarify concerns about chemical quality and safety of drinking tap water in Dakhlia governorate. For comparison, selected samples from three common commercial bottled water were analyzed. Atomic absorption Spectrometry technique was used to measure lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, zinc, selenium, calcium, magnesium and sodium in 65 samples of tap water and nine samples of bottled water. The mean concentrations of the metals in drinking water obtained in this study were within the acceptable levels of the World Health Organization (WHO,2004) guidelines and lower than maximum contaminated levels (MCL) established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA,2004). Tap water showed slightly higher levels of lead, arsenic, cadmium, zinc, and selenium.