A Survey on the Efficacy of Dilution Performance for Nitrate Reduction in Freidan County, Iran

Freidan County is located in the north west of Isfahan Province, Iran. This County has population about 84000 people, has cold weather, and is mountainous. Because of large area of agricultural lands, and excessive use of chemical fertilizers (especially nitrogen fertilizers) and drought, nitrate in drinking water in some parts of this county is higher than permissible limit. Through chemical, biological, and physical methods, nitrate can be removed from water. Therefore, the aim of this study was to reduce nitrate to permissible limit using dilution method.
In this was experimental study, the efficacy of dilution performance for nitrate reduction in Freidan County was evaluated. This method can be used as reliable and economical way for nitrate reduction in drinking water.
Findings: After dilution of collected samples from various wells in Freidan County, dilution tests were carried out, and it was found that the level of nitrate in final water was equal to the average of raw water samples, and less than the permitted level.
Nitrate removal by dilution method is effective and simple. Besides, the efficiency of this method depends on the volume of contaminated water, the volume of water with lower nitrate, and their mixing ratio.