Chemical characteristics of wet precipitation at Peradeniya in Sri Lanka

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment Vol. 193; no. 1; p. 14
• Main Authors: Liyandeniya, A. B., Deeyamulla, M. P., Abeysundara, S. P., Priyantha, N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-01-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acidity; Aluminum; Ammonia; Anthropogenic factors; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Burning; Calcium carbonate; Calcium ions; Chemical precipitation; Construction industry; Copper; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental science; Incineration; Industry; Ions - analysis; Iron; Magnesium; Manganese; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Neutralization; Precipitation; Principal components analysis; Rain; Sri Lanka; Vehicle emissions; Waste disposal; Zinc; Sri Lanka; Atmospheric pollution; Ionic constituents; Correlation; Chemical composition; Neutralization
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-020-08772-7

The purpose of this research was to study chemical characteristics of precipitation in Peradeniya (Latitude 6.973701, Longitude 79.915256), Kandy District in Sri Lanka. This study was conducted during 2012 to 2014, and wet precipitation was analyzed for pH, conductivity, Na
+
, NH
4
+
, K
+
, Mg
2+
, Ca
2+
, F
−
, Cl
−
, NO
3
−
, SO
4
2−
, Pb, Cu, Mn, Al, Zn, and Fe for a total of 125 samples. Less than 2% events of acidic precipitation were recorded, and the VWA of the major ionic species present in precipitation samples were in the order of Ca
2+
 > Na
+
 > Cl
−
 > NH
4
+
 > SO
4
2−
 > K
+
 > NO
3
−
 > Mg
2+
. Neutralization of acidity of precipitation is much more related to CaCO
3
than NH
3
, and the presence of high content of Ca
2+
strongly supports this fact. When considering marine contribution, SO
4
2−
/Na
+
, Ca
2+
/Na
+
, Mg
2+
/Na
+
, and K
+
/Na
+
ratios are higher than the reference value suggesting that contribution of sources other than marine. Concentration of Zn is the highest while that of Mn is the lowest. Principal component analysis identified probable sources for major ionic and elemental sources as both natural and anthropogenic sources such as vehicular emission due to heavy traffic, waste incineration, bio mass burning, brass industry, and construction.