Chemical Analysis of Water Used in Food and Drinking Industries: a Case study in the North West of Iran

Today, industries especially food and drinking industries are the second users of fresh water. Water has important and variety consumptions at food and drinking industries and in some cases more than 90% of final products are consist of water. Considering the wide range sources of heavy metal emission to environment, health effects of heavy metals presence and other possible pollutions of water sources, consumed water in mentioned industries should be in compatible with quality requirements. Present study is a cross sectional-descriptive study. Among the 377 food, drug and health units in the East Azerbaijan province, 9 food and drinking factories was selected and water samples were collected during two different seasons and analyzed for heavy metals presence and other general characteristics. According to the results, chemical quality of water consumed at some of studied industries regarding presence of some cations (magnesium) and anions (nitrate and sulphate) were unsuitable. At some industries, level of Pb was close to MCL and in 1 case; Cd was 8.4 folds higher than national MCL, 0.042 mg/L. Regarding to presence of chemical pollution in consumed water of some studied industries, and as a main approach, it is required drinking water to be used as water supply for processing of food and drinking products, otherwise the water should be treated using treatment processes to met drinking water standard levels. In the case of nitrate monthly control and for Cd and Pb 6 months control is recommended.