Showing 40 results for Zare
M. A. Mohammadi, M. Zarea Khormizi, A. Kavian,
Volume 19, Issue 72 (summer 2015)
Abstract
Sediment yield of watersheds results from different erosional and hydrological processes which make it too complicated to be predicted. Awareness of runoff and sediment yield regimes is useful to better understand the erosional condition of watersheds for management. Therefore, determination of factors controlling hydro-sedimentary response of watersheds is very necessary. For this purpose, ground surveying and measurements of hydrograph and sediment graph were carried out in the representative basin of Khamsan in the uplands of Gavshan dam during 9 months. Finally, relationships between runoff and sediment yield were obtained, then corresponding runoff-sediment events were analyzed. Results showed that 5 events out of 6 occurring runoff events had eight-shaped hysteresis loop and only one event showed clock-wise hysteresis loop. Among them, the highest and lowest flood discharges were attributed to the events of 02.11.2010 and 05.01.2011 with 151488 M3 and 11764.8 M3 Run off, respectively. The study also showed that for this watershed no specific type of loop existed for a particular season. Accordingly, the seasonal patterns could not be attributed to a particular type of loop. Precipitation and runoff characteristics may have also played a role in addition to other factors. Results emphasize the importance of rainfall distribution and rising-falling limbs of hydrograph for the corresponding hysteresis loops in small watersheds.
M. Zare , T. Honar1,
Volume 19, Issue 74 (Winter 2016)
Abstract
The most important cause of concern about the stability of bridge foundation is the occurrence of scour around bridge piers. Therefore, different methods have been proposed to prevent or reduce scouring around bridge piers. The use of groynes is one of the modern methods to control and reduce local scour. In the present study, the effect of a solid groyne on reduction of the scour depth around a cylindrical bridge pier, located in the bend of a laboratory flume is assessed. Experiments were conducted for groyne model angled at 50˚, 90˚ and 120˚ to the downstream channel sidewall with three flow rates of 47, 49 and 51 liters per second in a sediment free condition. Results showed that in at ratios of velocity to critical velocity and all groyne angles, in comparison with no groyne, the scour depth was reduced. At all ratios of velocity to critical velocity, the best operation was related to normal groyne and the average operation of repelling groyne was better than attracting groyne. The operation of normal groyne decreased and attracting groyne function improved as the flow rate increased. Also, the normal groyne (ratio of velocity to critical velocity equal to 0.87) had the best effect on reducing the scour depth (by about 71.4 percent).
M. J. Zareian, S. S. Eslamian, H. R. Safavi,
Volume 20, Issue 75 (Spring 2016)
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of climate change on the evapotranspiration amount and water balance in the Zayandeh-Rud river basin. Two important weather stations; Isfahan and Chelgerd stations, located in the East and West of the basin respectively, were selected for investigation in this study. The combination of 15 GCM models were created based on the weighting method and three patterns of climate change including the ideal, medium and critical were defined. Using the proposed patterns, the effects of climate change on temperature and evapotranspiration in Isfahan station and precipitation in Chelgerd station were estimated under the A2 and B1 emissions scenarios. Two indices were considered to determine the sustainability of agricultural water consumption in the study area. Ratio of evapotranspiration in the East part of the basin to precipitation in the West part was defined as EPR index (Evapotranspiration-Precipitation Ratio), and the ratio of maximum agricultural water deficit to the amount of agriculture water need, was considered as maximum deficit index (MD). Results showed that the annual temperature would increase between 0.63-1.13°C in the eastern part of the basin. The west precipitation in the basin would reduce between 6.5-30% in the ideal to critical patterns. Summer season, showed the most amount of increase in the temperature, and winter season, showed the most amount of decrease in precipitation. The A2 emission scenario showed more temperature increase and more precipitation decrease in comparison with the B1 emission scenario and also indicated that the potential evapotranspiration would increase by 3.1 to 4.8% in the basin. The EPR index will increase between 13-52% and MD index will increase between 9-35% in Zayandeh-Rud river basin under different climate change patterns. The results revealed the imbalance between agricultural water use in eastern part and the precipitation in the western part of the basin. In other words, in these conditions, appropriate management strategies and planning should be implemented to ensure the sustainability of water resources in Zayandeh-Rud River Basin.
K. , and M. R. Nosrati, M. Amini, A. Haddadchi, Zare3,
Volume 20, Issue 78 (Winter 2017)
Abstract
Accelerated soil erosion in Iran causes on-site and off-site effects and identifying of sediment sources and determination of their contribution in sediment yield is necessary for effective sediment control strategies in river basin. In spite of increasing sediment fingerprinting studies uncertainty associated with magnetic susceptibility properties has not been fully incorporated in models yet. The objective of this study is determination of the relative contribution of sediment sources using magnetic susceptibility properties (High frequency, Low frequency and Frequency dependence) incorporated in uncertainty mixing model. For this purpose, 25 bed sediment samples were collected from the outlet of drainage basin and outlet of sub-basins and their magnetic susceptibility was measured and calculated. The results of Kruskal–Wallis test and discriminant function analysis showed that magnetic susceptibility properties can be used as optimum set of tracers in the uncertainty mixing model. The results of Bayesian mixing model indicated that mean (uncertainty range) relative contribution of Sparan, Joyband and Boyoukchay are 92 (83.9-94.8), 2.8 (0.2-10.7), 5.7 (0.2- 10.5) percent, respectively. According to these results, the highest amount of sediment yield is related to Sparan sub-basin and these results could be used in soil conservation and management planning.
M. Zarea Khormizi, A. Kavian, K. Soleimani, K. Nosrati,
Volume 21, Issue 2 (Summer 2017)
Abstract
Obtaining information about relative importance of sediment sources and their contributions on sediment production and thus identification of on-site critical areas is required for implementing soil and water conservations and sediment control programs. For this reason, in this study 35 geochemical tracers and organic carbon were measured in 45 samples of sediment sources and in 11 watershed sediment samples to determine the sediment deposit contribution of each land use as sediment resources in Kond watershed of Tehran province. Based on the results of Kruskal-Wallis test, from among 35 measured traces, 10 tracers including Al, As, Be, Ca, Mo, P, Pb, S, Zn and OC had ability to discriminate sediment sources with less than 1% confidence level. Then, 5 tracers: OC, S, P, Zn and As were selected as optimum composite using Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) with 0.000 confidence coefficient that had distinguishing capability of sediment sources by 97.8% correct assignation. Finally, the results of multivariate mixing model showed that contribution means of orchard, range and residential were 1.54, 14.27 and 84.18% in sediment production, respectively. Also, the sum of squares of the error was 0.33. The results of this study can be used in selecting an appropriate method for sediment control in studied area.
M. Mokarram, A. R. Zarei, Mohammad Javad Amiri,
Volume 22, Issue 3 (Fall 2018)
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of increasing DEM spatial resolution on the assessment of the morphometric characteristics of waterways, as well as analysis and modeling of it by using RS and GIS techniques. In this study, which was carried out in the south of Darab city DEM 90 m (as one of the most usable data in waterway modeling), increase spatial resolution of DEM attraction algorithm in neighboring pixels with two models including: touching and quadrant neighboring models to estimate the value of sub-pixels. After manufacturing output images for sub pixels in 2, 3 and 4 scales with different neighborhoods, the best scale with the most appropriate type of neighborhood was determined using ground control points (270 points); then, the values of RMSE were calculated for them. The results showed that with using the Attraction model, the accuracy of the output of images was improved and the spatial resolution of them was increased. Among scales with different neighborhoods, 3 scales and quadrant neighboring model exhibited the most accuracy by the lowest value of RMSE for the DEM 90 meter. Evaluation of waterways morphometric features showed that DEM extracted from attraction algorithm had more ability and accuracy in waterways extraction, Extraction of morphometric complications, and information in the study area.
M. A. Amini, G. Torkan, S. S. Eslamian, M. J. Zareian, A. A. Besalatpour,
Volume 23, Issue 1 (Spring 2019)
Abstract
In the present study, we used 27 precipitation average monthly data from synoptic, climatologic, rain-guage and evaporative stations located in Zayandeh-Rud river basin for the period of 1970-2014. Before interpolating, the missing data in the time series of each station was reconstructed by the normal ratio method. Also, for the data quality control, the Dickey-Fuller and Shapiro-Wilk tests were used to check the data stationarity and normality. Then, these data were interpolated by six interpolation methods including Inverse Distance Weighting,
Natural Neighbor, Tension Spline, Regularized Spline, Ordinary Kriging and Universal Kriging; then each method was evaluated using the cross-validation technique with MAE, MBE and RMSE indices. The results showed that among the spatial interpolation methods, Natural Neighbor method with MAE of 0.24 had the best performance for interpolating precipitation among all of the methods. Also, among Ordinary Kriging, Universal Kriging, Spline and
Inverse Distance Weighting methods, respectively, Exponential Kriging with MAE 0.54, Quadratic Drift Kriging with MAE of 0.5, Tension Spline with the MAE of 0.54 and Inverse Distance Weighting with the power of 4 with MAE of 0.57 had the least error compared to other IDW methods.
Zahra Shahrokhi, M. Zare, A. Mirmohammadi Maybodi, F. Arabi Aliabad,
Volume 23, Issue 3 (Fall 2019)
Abstract
Droughts are natural events and could lead to declining surface water quality of regional basin. Understanding the complex impacts of drought may help authorities to monitor changes in different regional basin and to make appropriate decision on development of a river basin management plan. In this study 20 years annual precipitation time series from 1994-2013 from 7 synoptic weather stations located in the Halil-Rood basin were analysed using both Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) and Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI) and then dry (-1.35 to -1.75) and wet years (1/7 to 2.45) were determined by model simulation studies. Several climate based drought indices and remotely sensed based drought indices were used for monitoring and evaluating of drought. The impact of drought on the water quality parameters in the study area was evaluated. Results showed that there was significant relationship between most of the examined water quality parameters (Ca2+, Mg2+, HCO3-, SO42+, Na+, total dissolved solids TDS, SAR) and drought, however there was no significant relationship between water pH and drought. The study indicated that focus on the drought indices might be helpful as a tool in improving surface water resources management under drought condition and may promote sustainable water resources utilization and management in the study area. Also, dividing the Halil-Rood basin into several homogeneous regions is recommended for future studies to prepare a better ground for studying the effect of drought on the quality of water at a regional scale.
D. Ziaei, R. Zare Bidaki, A. A. Besalatpour, A. Malekian,
Volume 23, Issue 4 (Special Issue of Flood and Soil Erosion, Winter 2019)
Abstract
To preserve soil as a productive resource, a balance between natural capability and utilization must be established to achieve through land suitability evaluation. The aim of this study was to compare the run-off and deposition of different land uses of Beheshtabad watershed in the current situation and in compliance with standardized land use fitted situation. For this purpose, land use map in its current state was provided using Landsat 7 images and land use suitability map was obtained by FAO (1979) instructions. SWAT model was then applied to simulate runoff and sediment yield by using these land use maps. To do this, the curve number method was used for calculating the runoff, the Muskingam was applied for channel routing, and Hrgrave-samani was employed for potansial evapotranspiration. The results confirmed that considering suitability in using lands in Beheshtabad watershed caused the reduction of the average runoff from 99.4 mm/yr to 82.8 mm/yr (17%) and sediment rate of 10.7 to 7.8 t/ha. yr (27%). Also, the reduction percentage in some land uses, such as dry, irrigated cropland and downstream ranges, was much more.
E. Ebrahimi, M. Zare Shahraki, O. Farhadian, Y. Keivany,
Volume 23, Issue 4 (winter 2020)
Abstract
Benthos play an important role in the transmission of primary production and organic material (detritus) accumulation of the substrate in the water ecosystems to the higher levels of food chain. Also, they are used as biological indicators to evaluate the effect of pollutants caused by human activities on water ecosystems. To evaluate the benthic communities of Zayanderood Dam Lake, 4 sampling stations were selected on the lake; then, during the year 2014, seasonal sampling at each station was performed. The sampling was carried out by using the sediment sampler instrument with the dimensions of (20 cm × 20 cm). The average temperature of surface and deep water in the Zayanderood Dam Lake during the study was estimated to be 15.6 ± 2.4 and 8.9 ± 1.8°C, respectively. The average concentration of dissolved oxygen in the surface and deep water was varied from 10.3 ± 0.6 to 8.1 ± 0.7 mg/L, respectively. Totally, 2165 samples of benthos were collected and identified in the Zayanderood Dam Lake, belonging to 3 classes, 6 orders and 5 families. The maximum number of samples belonged to Tubifex, Naididae and Chironomidae genera. The dominant genus was Tubifex in all stages. According to this study, therefore, it seems that the structure of substrate, the amount of nutrients, grazing pressure and hydrostatic pressure are the most important environmental factors that can affect benthic community in the Zayanderood Dam Lake.
H. Ghorbani, A. Vali, H. Zarepour,
Volume 23, Issue 4 (winter 2020)
Abstract
Drought as a natural hazard is a gradual phenomenon, slowly affecting an area; it may last for many years and can have devastating effects on the natural environment and in human lives. Although drought forecasting plays an important role in the planning and management of water resource systems, the random nature of contributing factors contributing to the occurrence of and severity of droughts causes some difficulties in determination of the time when a drought begins or ends. The present research was planned to evaluate the capability of linear stochastic models, known as multiplicative Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) model, in the quantitative forecasting of drought in Isfahan province based on the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). To this end, the best SARIMA models were chosen for modelling the monthly rainfall data from 1990 to 2017 for every 10 synoptic stations in Isfahan province to forecast their monthly rainfall up to five years. The monthly time scale SPI values based on these predictions were used to assess the drought severity of different stations for the 2018- 2022 time period. The station results indicated a weak drought at the 2019- 2022 period for Isfahan, Kashan and Naeen, a severe drought in 2019 for Ardestan and Golpaygan, and a weak one in 2019 for the East of Isfahan, KabootarAbad and Shahreza stations. All other stations, except Golpayegan, Isfahan, Kashan and Naeen, faced a severe drought in 2018.
J. Jalili, F. Radmanesh, A. A. Naseri, M. A. Akhond Ali, H. A. Zarei,
Volume 24, Issue 3 (Fall 2020)
Abstract
Agricultural water management studies require accurate information on actual evapotranspiration. This information must have sufficient spatial detail to allow analysis on the farm or basin level. The methods used to estimate evapotranspiration are grouped into two main groups, which include direct methods and indirect or computational methods. Basics of the indirect methods are based on the relationship between meteorological parameters, which impedes the use of these data with a lack or impairment. On the other hand, this information is a point specific to meteorological stations, and their regional estimates are another problem of uncertainty of their own. To this end, the use of remote sensing technology can be a suitable approach to address these constraints. Real evapotranspiration can be estimated by satellite imagery that has short and long wavelengths and is estimated using surface energy equations. Examples of such algorithms include SEBAL, METRIC, SEBS. Among the above mentioned algorithms, SEBAL and SEBS have been used. Among the factors of superiority of the SEBAL and SEBS algorithms, in comparison with other remote sensing algorithms, is a satellite imagery analysis algorithm based on physical principles and uses satellite simulation and requires minimum meteorological information from ground measurements or air models.
M. Sayadi, H. Khosravi, S. Zareh, Kh. Ahmadali, S. Bagheri,
Volume 25, Issue 3 (Fall 2021)
Abstract
Desertification is a phenomenon that has more destructive effects in arid, semi-arid, and semi-humid regions than in other regions. This paper tries to provide a map of the future of desertification in Tehran Province, for futurism in the face of land degradation and desertification. The IMDPA model was used to evaluate land degradation and desertification. To use this model and evaluate desertification, three criteria of groundwater including groundwater depletion, electrical conductivity, and sodium adsorption ratio indices, climate criterion including precipitation, aridity, and drought indices, and land use criteria were selected as key criteria effected on desertification according to regional conditions. Land use index map with IGBP standard and zoning map of other indicators were prepared by IDW method for 2011 and 2016. The maps of land use index and other indices were predicted using the CA-Markov model in TerrSet software, and using the RBF method in artificial neural network toolbox, respectively. Scoring based on the IMDPA model, the maps of indices and criteria maps were prepared for 2011, 2016, and 2021. Finally, the desertification intensity map was calculated by geometric averaging for all three criteria for all three time periods. The results showed that 59.78% and 40.22% of the area of Tehran Province were in the low and medium classes, respectively. However, in 2016, the area of the medium class has increased to a 44.8%, and it is predicted that this increase will continue until 2021 so that 47.65% of the area of Tehran Province will be in the medium class. In addition, in this year, about 1% of the area of Tehran Province will be allocated to the high class in the western regions, which did not exist in the previous two periods. In general, due to human activities, the intensity of desertification in the western and southern parts of the province is higher than in the eastern and northern regions.
S. Toghiani Khorasgani, S. Eslamian, M.j Zareian,
Volume 25, Issue 4 (Winiter 2022)
Abstract
In recent decades, water scarcity has become a global problem due to the growth of the world's population as well as the increase in per capita water consumption. Therefore, planning and managing water resources to prevent potential risks such as floods and drought in the future is one of the important measures of water resources management. One of the important measures to avoid potential risks and predict the future is rainfall-runoff modeling. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficiency of the WetSpa hydrological model in estimating surface runoff in the Eskandari watershed, which is one of the important sub-basins of the Zayandehrood watershed. In this study, Daran and Fereydunshahr synoptic stations have been used to collect meteorological information in the Eskandari watershed. Also, to study the flow of the Plasjan river, daily data of Eskandari hydrometric station, located at the outlet of the basin, have been used. Climatic data along with digital maps of altitude, soil texture, and land use were entered as input to the WetSpa model. Finally, the ability of the WetSpa model was evaluated in estimating river surface runoff. The observed flow at the basin outlet in the hydrometric station was used to evaluate and calibrate the model. The model was calibrated for the statistical period (1992-2000) and its validation was performed for the statistical period (2001-2004). In the calibration period, the trial and error method were used to calibrate the model parameters. The simulation results showed a good correlation between the simulated flow and the measured flow. In the present study, the Nash Sutcliffe coefficient in the calibration and validation stages was equal to 0.73 and 0.75, respectively which shows the good and acceptable ability of the model in estimating the surface runoff of the study basin.
M. Zareian,
Volume 26, Issue 2 (ُSummer 2022)
Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of climate change on temperature and precipitation changes in important synoptic weather stations in Yazd province (including Yazd, Bafgh, Marvast, and Robat-e-Poshtebadam). Accordingly, a combination of the outputs of the latest AOGCM models presented in the IPCC sixth assessment report (CMIP6) were used to increase the accuracy of temperature and precipitation forecasts. A weighting method was used based on the Kling-Gupta combined index (KGE) to combine these models. After weighting the models, the monthly temperature and precipitation changes were calculated based on SSP126, SSP245, and SSP585 emission scenarios. Then, daily temperature and precipitation time series were extracted for different weather stations using the LARS-WG downscaling model. The results showed that in all the weather stations, CanESM5 and BCC-CSM2-MR models have the best ability to simulate the temperature and precipitation of the historical period, respectively. Results also showed that in all emission scenarios, the annual temperature will increase and the annual precipitation will decrease. The annual temperature of this region will increase between 0.2 to 0.6 °C, and the annual precipitation will decrease between 2.9 and 13.7% in different weather stations. Also, the maximum temperature increase and precipitation decrease in this region, will occur in spring and autumn, respectively.
F. Zarei, M.r. Nouri Emamzadehei, A.r. Ghasemi Dastgerdi, A. Shahnazari,
Volume 26, Issue 4 (Winiter 2023)
Abstract
The pattern of root distribution in layered soils is one of the significant issues in the calculations of soil water and irrigation management and planning. The objective of this study was to determine the pattern of root distribution of soybean in layered soils and its effect on water uptake. The research was conducted in a completely randomized design with 15 treatments consisting of three different textures of soil (light, heavy, and medium) in four replications. The pattern of root distribution was monitored by the sampling of columns at the end of the growth period of the soybean. It was observed that the presence of the layer with medium texture has led to better plant development and growth after comparing the treatments in terms of plant growth. In general, root length density decreased with increasing soil depth, except in cases where there were different layers of soil, and root length density takes place in the following order: root length density in layers with medium texture≥ heavy texture≥ light texture. The rate of root water uptake rate was highest in the sandy layers, intermediate in clay, and lowest in loamy texture. Also, the rate of root water uptake rate increased significantly with increasing depth regardless of treatments. It can be concluded that the pattern of root distribution and plant growth is significantly affected by soil texture and its stratification.
T. Mohammadi, V. Sheikh, A. Zare,
Volume 26, Issue 4 (Winiter 2023)
Abstract
Trend analysis of stream flow provides practical information for better management of water resources on the eve of climate change. Therefore, the present study investigated river flow variations during three decades as well as projections of future discharge in the Gorganrood watershed. The Man-Kendall method has been used to detect the trend and methods of Pettitt, SNHT, and Buishand to identify points of a sudden change in discharge time series in 8 stations of Aq Qala, Galikesh, Gonbad, Haji Ghoshan, Nodeh, Ramyan, Sadgorgan, and Tamar. The Mann-Kendall trend test showed the existence of a significant negative trend (flow reduction) on a daily and annual scale in all stations. Monthly, the strongest negative trend in Aq Qala, Galikesh, Gonbad, Haji Ghoshan, and Ramyan stations was related to July, but in Nodeh and Tamar stations, it was related to August and February, respectively. A decreasing trend was observed in all stations on a seasonal scale, but this trend was not significant in some seasons. The results of the analysis of change points in discharge showed that the change points in the data used in this study are more of a decreasing and in some cases incremental type and some stations, no change points have been identified at all. Therefore, the number of decreasing changes in the studied hydrometric stations is significantly higher than the incremental changes and is more visible from 1993 to 1997 and 2005-2007 in three and four stations, respectively. Also, the most incremental changes among the stations are related to the Aq Qala station in 2017 with a flow rate of 234 cubic meters per second. Investigation of the flow of the basin in the past decades showed significant monotonic and abrupt changes which are mostly toward decreasing the basin’s discharge. The downward trend in discharge values at different time scales for all hydrometric stations of the Gorganrood watershed, which will be more severe in the future due to global climate change, and increasing the region's water needs for various future use due to population growth and the expansion of industries can also be considered as a serious warning for policymakers, planners, and local managers to prevent a possible water crisis in the region in the future with proper planning.
Z. Nazari, M. Moeinaddini, S. Zare, R. Rafiee,
Volume 27, Issue 1 (Spring 2023)
Abstract
Due to the environmental problems caused by wind erosion, it is necessary to stabilize the dust centers with mulches. The objective of the present study was to determine and compare the optimum vinasse mulches based on mechanical indicators for sensitive soil stabilization to wind erosion. In this research, vinasse (0, 100, 200 g) is combined with bagasse (0, 25, 50 g), ash bagasse (0, 25, 50 g), filtercake (0, 12.5, 25 g), and one-liter water (81 treatments). At first, the treatments were determined in the appropriate range of salinity and acidity (35 treatments) and in the next step, the mechanical indicators have been measured after mulching on laboratory trays (2×30×100 cm). Optimum mulches have been determined based on five indicators by mean comparison (Duncan). The mean comparison showed that treatments 33, 30, 34, 32, and 19 show the mean difference between the groups based on layer thickness, impact resistance, compressive strength, and shear strength properly. It can be concluded that vinasse (100 and 200 g) with 50 g bagasse reduces the crack coefficient greatly, and the application of vinasse, bagasse, and filtercake does not affect the compressive strength and impact resistance.
T. Mohammadi, V. Sheikh, A. Zare, M. Salarijazi,
Volume 27, Issue 3 (Fall 2023)
Abstract
A quantitative study of groundwater resources and accurate monitoring of changes over time, especially in areas facing limited water resources, is considered essential for proper management and sustainable exploitation of these resources. Golestan province, one of the semi-arid provinces of Iran has faced a drop in the groundwater level and an increase in the salinity of the groundwater due to the excessive withdrawals from the groundwater table and the reduction of atmospheric precipitation in the past few years. Gorgan Plain with an area of about 4727 square kilometers is one of the largest plains in Iran and the most important plain of Golestan province in terms of water supply for agricultural and drinking purposes. In this plain, there is a network of piezometers and observation wells that include continuous monthly measurements for more than 30 years. The objective of this research was to investigate the changes in the groundwater level of shallow (30 years (1989-2018)) and deep (22 years (1997-2018)) wells. The Man-Kendall method was used to reveal the trend and Pettitt, Normal Standard, and Buishand methods were used to identify sudden change points in a time series of groundwater levels in 49 shallow wells and 12 deep wells. The results of this research showed that the groundwater level in most of the studied wells had a significantly decreasing trend at a significant level of 5%. Also, the largest amount of groundwater loss was in the southern and southwestern parts of the plain, which can be attributed to a large amount of water taken from the wells due to their proximity to urban areas and some local conditions such as the proximity of the wells of this area are located in altitudes and at the entrance border of the aquifer. In the same way, as it rises, the fall decreases in the middle of the plain, and the amount of fall decreases in the northern areas and the edge of the Caspian Sea. It can be related to the proximity to the Caspian Sea and the high water table, and as a result, the inappropriate quality of water and land (high salinity and low fertility), which has caused the water withdrawal from this area to be less.
A. Zare Garizi, K. Shahedi, A. Matboo,
Volume 28, Issue 1 (Spring 2024)
Abstract
Water quality characteristics play a crucial role in water resources management, watershed health assessment, and implementing effective management strategies. The objective of this research was to present an overall assessment of the surface water quality in the Gorganrood River Basin to be utilized for developing effective watershed management plans and programs. Various physicochemical water quality data including main anions and cations, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Electrical Conductivity (EC), Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR), pH, and total hardness recorded at 25 hydrometric stations across the basin were analyzed and assessed with the Canadian (CCME) Water Quality Index. The mean water quality index for drinking, agriculture, and industrial purposes indicated that headwaters and higher areas generally exhibited better water quality compared to the downstream areas of the basin. Geochemical processes and the introduction of various pollutants during water flow from the headwaters to the basin outlet contribute to a decline in water quality. The highest water quality was observed in the Kabudval and Shirabad stations, whereas the Baghesalian station exhibited the lowest. For drinking water use, hardness, bicarbonate, and chloride were identified as variables contributing to water quality decline in the headwaters and upstream areas. However, these areas predominantly maintained a moderate to good quality for drinking purposes. Conversely, downstream areas experienced a significant deterioration in water quality with higher pollutant levels such as total dissolved solids (TDS), sulfate, and sodium, resulting in relatively poor to poor conditions. Approximately 60% of the stations in the basin had excellent water quality for agricultural use, with no limiting factors. Only three stations near the basin's outlet exhibited relatively poor to poor water quality due to elevated chloride levels, sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), and electrical conductivity. only 28% of hydrometric stations demonstrated good water quality for industrial use. Hardness, pH, and TDS are the main variables contributing to water quality decline for industrial use in the upstream, while downstream areas are impacted by chloride and sulfate. The outcomes of this study hold significant implications for effective water resources management, watershed preservation, and natural resource conservation in the Gorganrood basin. From industry and especially health aspects, however, more detailed investigations are needed, taking into account some other important variables of water quality (including nitrate, total coliform, fecal coliform, etc.).
