en Environmental pollution Original articles <div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><em>Introduction:</em></strong> Inappropriate management of mining activities may bring about water pollution and pose a heavy complication on aquatic ecosystem and humans. The study aimed to evaluate the effect of Qorveh gold mining activities on the quality of nearby groundwater.<br> <strong><em>Materials and Methods:</em></strong> The concentration of seven eco-toxic metals along with some general hydrochemical parameters were investigated for 27 sampling stations in the study area using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) and conventional hydrochemical methods. The analysis results were further applied to compute pollution indices, namely heavy metal pollution index (HPI) for irrigation purposes.<br> <strong><em>Results:</em></strong> The main elements were within the World Health Organization (WHO) and Iranian National Water Standards (INWS) for irrigation water quality, except for NH₄⁺ in some sampling points. The concentration of heavy metals followed the order Cu > Zn > Pb > Hg > Cd > As. The contents of Hg, As, Cd, and Cu in most sites were higher than the recommended values. Except for two stations, the value of HPI based on the mean concentration was found to be far beyond the critical pollution index value of 100, suggesting that the area is highly polluted with some heavy metals.<br> <strong><em>Conclusion:</em></strong> Elevated concentration of trace elements found in groundwater of this area represented the release of harmful elements from gold mining activities on surrounding environment.</div> Metals, Heavy, Hydrochemistry, Groundwater,Qorveh City. 1507 1521 http://jehsd.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-133-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mahsa Jahangiri-rad m.jahangiri@iautmu.ac.ir 0000-0002-1626-4014 Yes Water Purification Research Center, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. Mohsen Shariati shariati773@gmail.com 0000-0001-8108-2236 No Department of Environmental Planning, College of Engineering, Faculty of Environment, Management and Education, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. Mahdieh Yaaghoubi spad.group@gmail.com 0000-0002-2138-4205 No Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Ali Haghmoradkhani jahangirirad64@gmail.com 0000-0003-0338-1454 No Technical Consultant, Arman Mohit Pak Iranian Company, Environmental Monitoring & Analysis Company (EMACO) Tehran, Iran. Abbas Akbarzadeh abbasakbarzadeh@yahoo.com 0000-0003-1060-7271 No Water and Wastewater Research Center (WWRC), Water Research Institute, Tehran, Iran.