The Identification and Prioritizing of Water Contaminants

Nowadays, Water contamination is one of the major problems and challenges in the world that can be considered as one of the main factors of diseases and mortalities in the world. Both surface and ground waters are exposed to the different contaminants. With regard to the nature and source of their entrance (man-made or naturally occurring), various classifications have been considered for contaminants. The main organic contaminants of water are agricultural, chemical, oil, and food contaminants. Each of these four groups has sub-criteria. In this research, water contaminants in oil and petrochemical industries have been identified and ranked through using Principle Component Analysis (PCA) as well as Analytical Network Process (ANP) methods. Results of Principle Component Analysis method reveal the fact that lead, nitrate and sodium contaminations have been ranked at the highest level from the environment experts’ point of views regarding water contamination. Furthermore, results of ANP show that agricultural and oil contaminants with the weights of 0.321 and 0.152 ranked first and fourth respectively. Finally, I hope that the relevant organizations can take effective steps to prevent environmental degradation which is created by oil and chemical industries contaminants.