Abstract— The study was undertaken to assess the status of water quality in the urban areas of Gharian district, northwestrn Libya. All the samples were analyzed for four physicochemical parameters such as total hardness, pH, nitrate and sulfate and twelve heavy metals, Al, Ba, Se, Hg, Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn using standard procedures. The analysis indicated that concentrations of the metal were mostly far below the maximum allawable concentration. However, the concentration of Ni in some of the water samples were relatively high when compared to the Libyan and International standards values. Relatively high concentrations of Se had been detected in all samples. The results showed that other parameters differ form each sample. Total hardness, nitrate and sulfate concentration of all samples were higher than the International standards. The pH of all analyzed samples was within the allowable limit. 

Keywords— Groundwater, wells, Heavy metals, Gharian.