Khorasan Steel Complex is in the north-east of Iran, located at a distance of 15 kilometers in the northwest of the Neyshabur city. The plant's annual steel production capacity is approximately 1.7 million tons and has annual production capacity of at least 420,000 tons of the slag as a by-product. According to Khorasan Steel Complex slag and dust composition, it has the potential of increasing environmental contaminants in the Neyshabur plain. In this study, eight heavy metal concentrations including Fe, Pb, Zn, Ni, Cd, As, Cu, Cr which have been detected in dust and slag, were measured in the selected samples of the complex adjacent groundwater resources. Then by using quality indices based on heavy metals, Cd, HEI and HPI, the impact on the quality of groundwater resources surrounding of the complex were measured and evaluated. Water samples were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and the slag and dust samples were analyzed using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. The results show that the metal pollution of groundwater resources in the study area is much less than the threshold risk, but if the proper approaches are not taken to recycling the stored slag and dust, it is possible that over time and with increasing in concentrations of these elements in ground water, we have the environmental problems in the mentioned area.

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