Study of heavy metals in Lake Ilopango, El Salvador

Abstract

Lake Ilopango is located between three departments of El Salvador: San Salvador, Cuscatlán and La Paz. According to Arévalo and Castañeda (2012), the lake recharges aquifers, stores water, controls floods in the region and offers fishing resources and scenic beauty for tourism and recreation. However, in 2015, through public management, the extraction of water began
of the lake to supply the Salvadoran capital (Videla, 2015). For this reason, this research studied the presence and concentration of contaminating elements as part of monitoring the quality of water for human consumption. A simple sampling was made in six points of the lake, distinguished as: A, B, C, D, E and F. These samples were analyzed by means of an inductor coupled plasma by optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES 3300 XL). Among the results, evidence of polluting elements was found, such as: arsenic (As), beryllium (Be), cadmium (Cd), selenium (Se), thallium (Tl) and lead (Pb). However, these polluting elements exceeded the limits allowed for human use and consumption established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.