Rainfall and its Environmental Impacts over Some Districts of Basra Governorate

Abstract

This study aims to determine the amount of precipitated airborne particles over some districts of Basra Governorate and their environmental impacts during the period from 2019 to 2025. Al-Zubair District ranked first in terms of precipitated airborne particles, reaching approximately 1052.1 g/m²/year for the entire study period. In 2025, it ranked first with 187 g/m²/year. Al-Qurna District ranked second with 874.9 g/m²/year, with 2019 ranking first among the studied years at 138.9 g/m²/year. Al-Faw District came in third with 870.9 g/m²/year, with 2019 recording the highest amount at 143.9 g/m²/year. However, the governorate's center, which has the highest population density, ranked fourth with a quantity of... (849.4 g/m²/year) In the same year, the Qurna district ranked first with a precipitation rate of (125.3 g/m²/year), while the Abu al-Khasib district ranked fourth with a precipitation rate of approximately (819.5 g/m²/year. The precipitation included various minerals such as calcite, quartz, dolomite, kaolin, feldspar, and gypsum, as well as different types of hazardous heavy metals. Chromium was the most prevalent element in all the studied districts, followed by nickel, cobalt, lead, and cadmium.

It was found that the number of children under the age of fifteen diagnosed with cancer reached (2105), with males accounting for (1174) cases and females (932) cases. This resulted in approximately (822) deaths, with males accounting for the majority (461) deaths and females for approximately (361) deaths