What’s in the Holy Water of Zamzam

Chemical composition, trends, and cool correlations

Zamzam well is located 20 meters away from the Kaaba in the Abraham valley of Saudi Arabia. According to the Islamic tradition, it miraculously sprang spontaneously thousands of years ago when Abraham’s son Ishmael was left with his mother Hagar in the desert, thirsty and crying.

After a brief introduction, we will explore a dataset comprised of various laboratory measurements of 45 water samples collected from Zamzam and other wells in Abraham valley.

An Alkaline Water

Zamzam water is slightly alkaline, with an average pH of 7.7. The alkalinity of the water most likely stems from the granitic composition of aquifer rocks in the area.

Generally speaking, drinkings alkaline water has many health benefits such as flushing acidic waste and toxins. As you burn food for energy, acidic waste products build up in your body and may become solid wastes such as cholesterol, fatty acid, and kidney stones. This condition, called acidosis, accelerates the degeneration of cells, tissues, and the aging process in the body as a whole. The body needs to either neutralize or excrete the acidic waste.

Drinking alkaline water makes it easier for the body to dispose of acidic wastes.

Other health benefits of drinking alkaline water include improving bone density, controlling gastric functions, and improving capacity for aerobic activities (Shomar, 2012).

The Zamzam Mix

The graphs below show the chemical distribution of ions, heavy metals, and trace elements in the Zamzam water. All the components are within acceptable limits as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Long-Term Trend of Zamzam Water Salinity

Total dissolved solids (TDS) measurement is a key component in water quality assessment to describe salinity levels. TDS affects the taste and hardness of drinking water. The WHO recommends a maximum TDS of 1,000 mg/L for drinking water. The TDS of Zamzam water decreased significantly over the years, falling from 4,500 mg/L in 1950 to 800 mg/L today.

Some analysts attribute the long-term decrease in TDS to the increase in rainfall volumes in the city of Mecca. The average annual rainfall volume increased from 50 mm in 1975 to 150 mm in 2005.

In 1969, the Kaaba was flooded due to exceptionally heavy rainfall. This is illustrated in the graph above (green marker) and in the photo below.

Water Quality Assessment Using Cheap and Fast Methods

Laboratory measurements are expensive, time-consuming, and run on small samples.

The objective is to derive data-driven and physics-informed models to assess Zamzam water quality using two cheap and fast mearements only: pH and EC.

TDS From EC

Total dissolved solids (TDS) and electrical conductivity (EC) are two linearly-correlated parameters. The process of obtaining EC from a water sample is cheaper and faster than that of TDS. Using a lab-calibrated model, TDS concentration can be easily derived from an EC measurement as shown below. It is worth mentioning that TDS in Zamzam well (red dots) is relatively low compared to other neighboring wells in the Abraham valley (green dots).

Concentrations of Ions From EC

Similar to TDS, the concentration of 8 different ions can be derived from an EC measurement using linear correlations. The concentrations of multivalent cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, and magnesium are of special interest because they affect water hardness.

Hard water is not a health hazard but it interferes with almost every cleaning task from laundering and dishwashing to bathing and personal grooming.

EC-pH Combo

To put it in a nutshell, good quality Zamzam water is characterized by low hardness and low salinity levels. This is equivalent to high pH and low EC measurements.

Water-Quality Classification

Based on pH and EC measurements only, we finally classify a set of 30 Zamzam water samples into three quality categories: Good(green circles), fair (orange diamonds), and poor (red squares).

75% of the samples are labeled as good quality. The fair and poor quality samples were all collected before 1990.

Takeaway

• Some health benefits of Zamzam water may be attributed to its alkaline nature.
• The quality of Zamzam water is affected by environmental factors such as the rainfall volume in Mecca and the geochemistry of aquifer rocks.
• The new data-driven method accurately estimates the chemical composition of Zamzam water. It can be deployed for real-time and large-scale monitoring of water quality.