Showing 22 results for Water Quality
N. Mirghaffari, H. Shariatmadari,
Volume 11, Issue 41 (10-2007)
Abstract
Concentration of soluble fluoride in groundwater, soil, and some crops in Isfahan region was determined by Ion Selective Electrode (ISE) method. The mean fluoride concentration of water samples in the study area was 0.3 and 0.05 mg L-1 in the spring and summer, respectively. These values are in an acceptable limit for irrigation, whereas for drinking water, they are in deficiency range. The average and maximum concentrations of soluble fluoride in soil samples were 1.0 and 3.2 mg kg-1, respectively. In general, the spatial distribution of fluoride in soils showed that fluoride content around major industrial centers such as Isfahan Steel Factory, Mobarakeh Steel Co., and Isfahan oil refinery was higher than other sites. The minimum and maximum fluoride contents of crops were observed in alfalfa as 0.2 and in corn as 4.2 mg kg-1, respectively. Tomato had the highest mean concentration of fluoride as 3.6 mg kg-1. The fluoride concentration in plants positively correlated with the fluoride concentration in irrigation water and soil (P < 0.01) and negatively correlated with cation exchange capacity of soil (P < 0.05).
M. Khatar, M. R. Mosaddeghi, A. A. Mahboubi,
Volume 16, Issue 60 (7-2012)
Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the effect of water salinity and sodicity on pore size distribution and plant-available water of two clay and sandy clay loam calcareous soils. All combinations of water EC values of 0.5, 2, 4 and 8 dS m-1 and SAR values of 1, 5, 13 and 18 (in total 16 solutions) were used to wet and dry the soil samples for five cycles. Then, water retention of the soil cores was measured at matric suctions of 0 (θs), 10 (θ10) 100 or 300 cm (θFC) and 15000 cm (θPWP). The following quantities were calculated: the difference between θ100 or θ300 and θ15000 considered as available water contrent, the θs and θ10 as macrorosity, the θ10 and θ100 as mesoporosity, and the θ100 as microrosity. The initial porosity of both soils was similar, but the greater values of pore indices and θFC, θPWP and AWC were measured in the clay soil due to clay swelling. As water EC increased, mesopores were destructed and altered to macropores and micropores. Salinity altered the mesopores into macropores due to contraction of diffuse double layer and particle’s flocculation and consequently decreased the θFC, and created new micropores which were responsible for the higher value of θPWP. These trends ultimately diminished the AWC. As water SAR increased, mesopores were destructed and altered to micropores but it did not significantly affect the macropores. With increment of SAR, both θFC and θPWP increased due to structural distruption clay swelling and dispersion resulting in increased adsorptive and interlayer surfaces. The increasing effect of SAR on θPWP was greater and more distinct so that AWC was reduced. As a result, high values of SAR of irrigation water decreased the soil available water to plants besides its toxicity and hazardous effect on plants. With increment of irrigation water salinity, the destructive impacts of SAR diminished. The influence of water quality on water retention was pronounced for the clay soil.
S. A. Ghasemi , Sh. Danesh,
Volume 16, Issue 61 (10-2012)
Abstract
In this research, the quality of the effluent from the City of Mashhad wastewater treatment plants was evaluated based on Ayers and Westcot irrigation water quality guideline, and the potential impacts of these effluents on soil and plants were assessed. For this purpose, the effluent from each of the three existing wastewater treatment plants was sampled on a regular basis, for a period of one year, and their parameters of importance in regard to the agricultural use such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), concentrations of Sodium, Calcium, Magnesium, Chloride, Boron, Nitrate (NO3-N), bicarbonate and heavy metals were measured. Based on the obtained results, the agricultural use of the effluents from the wastewater treatment plants has severe restriction in regard to the bicarbonate concentrations (8-12.1 meq/L). Also, in view points of parameters such as EC (1250-1874 µS/cm), Sodium (5.8-8.7 as SAR), Chloride (3.2-6.5 meq/L) and adj RNa (7.8-11.7), the effluents were categorized in the class of waters with low to moderate restrictions. However, the measured values of pH (7.3-8), Boron (0.2-0.8 mg/L), Nitrate Nitrogen (0.5-4.2 mg/L) and heavy metals did not indicate any restrictions for agricultural use. From the results of this research, it can be concluded that the use of effluent as irrigation water requires careful planning, monitoring and management strategies.
M. Moghadas, A. R. Estabragh , J. Abdollahi,
Volume 16, Issue 62 (3-2013)
Abstract
Expansive soils swell and shrink periodically when subjected to seasonal water content changes. As a result, they are a constant source of problem in the design and construction of foundations. In this study, the behaviour of an expansive soil was studied through a number of experiments involving cycles of wetting and drying using three different water qualities. Laboratory tests were performed on statically-compacted samples of an expansive soil in a modified Oedometer under constant surcharge pressure of 10 kPa. Vertical deformation of the soil sample was recorded continuously, and during the test, void ratio and water content of the sample were determined at different stages. The results indicated that the equilibrium condition was reached after about six wetting-drying cycles. It is shown that the swelling potential changes with changes in water quality the saline water reduced the swelling potential of the soil compared to the distilled water during wetting and drying cycles. Furthermore, the results showed that the variations of water content-void ratio paths during wetting-drying were the same (no hysteresis) when the equilibrium condition was achieved
E. Sahebjalal, F. Dehghany, M. S. Tabatabaeezade,
Volume 17, Issue 65 (12-2013)
Abstract
Groundwater is the most important source of water supply for agricultural purposes in arid and semi-arid areas. In many areas, excessive use of high quality water resources leads to reducing the available water resources and turning to the use of low quality water resources. Thus, knowing the temporal and spatial variation of groundwater quality is a necessary factor for implementation of sound water resource management and establishment of the suitability between water quality and its usage. In order to investigate water quality changes, this study was divided into two phases. In the first phase, for evaluation of the quality of groundwater for irrigation 76 wells were sampled in Bahadoran plain, in the year 2006. The SAR, EC, ions B3+ and Cl- were analyzed as the evaluation indexes. Then, using geostatistical methods the maps of each parameter were prepared. Finally, considering FAO criteria, these maps were overlaid and separate water quality maps were derived. The EC map indicated that in 48 and 52 percent of the groundwater lies in severe and slight to moderate restriction class for irrigation purposes. Moreover, the thematic map of infiltration restrictions indicates that the groundwater has no restriction in 66 percent of the area while 11% of groundwater causes low to moderate and 23 percent causes severe limitation. In the next phase, to examine changes in groundwater salinity during a 5-year period, 38 wells were sampled and the groundwater salinity map for the year 2011 was prepared. Finally, using subtraction of the salinity maps of given years, the salinity changes map was derived. The results of thematic map showed that groundwater salinity increased in 26.47 percent of the study area. In contrast, there was a decrease of about 31.14 percent in groundwater salinity over the 5-year period while 42.39 percent of the region’s groundwater remained unchanged. Since the study area is under cultivation of pistachios and salt threshold of this tree is 8 ds/m so the area of about 8 percent of the area was added to the previous limited areas. Therefore, irrigation management and planting development plan in Eastern and Southeastern areas should be revised.
R. Jafari, L. Bakhshandehmehr,
Volume 18, Issue 68 (9-2014)
Abstract
Continuous decline of groundwater quality for agricultural purposes has become a major concern in extensive arid and semi-arid regions. Therefore, mapping the quality of groundwater on a broad scale is an essential step in land management. This study aimed to map spatial distribution of two important groundwater quality indices including EC and SAR in Isfahan province, Iran, using geostatistical techniques. Different techniques such as Kriging, IDW and
RBF were applied to water quality data of 540 groundwater wells to map continuous variations of the EC and SAR indices in Arc GIS 9.3 environment. Among the interpolation methods, the Kriging by circular variogram model performed best and had the lowest RMSe error. Therefore, the produced maps from this technique were classified based on Wilcox method. Results showed that EC varies across the province from 392.2 in the west to about 17917.6 µmmhos/ cm in the northwest and eastern parts of the study area. The highest and lowest SAR values were estimated in the towns of Khour va Biabanak and Semirom, ranging from 38.9 to 0.13, respectively. According to the map of irrigation water quality based on Wilcox method, about 12.13 % of the region was classified as good, 16% as moderate, 17.5% as unsuitable and 54.35% as unusable category. In general, the quality of groundwater in Isfahan province decreases from west to east and also from south to north, especially in playas (non-agricultural lands) where the unusable class is dominant.
S. S. Heshmati, H. Beigi Harchegani,
Volume 18, Issue 69 (12-2014)
Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess the drinking quality of Shahrekord aquifer based on a GWQI (groundwater quality index) within a GIS framework. To do this, samples from 97 wells were analyzed for pH, Electrical Conductance (EC), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Turbidity, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, Cl-, HCO3- and SO42-, and total hardness was also calculated. These water quality parameters were geostatistically mapped. Maps showed that maximum quality of water occurs in the northwest while the lowest quality occurs in the south of aquifer. To calculate GWQI index, each map was difference-normalized and converted to a rank map. Assuming the mean value of each rank map to be the weight of corresponding parameter, a GWQI map was created with values varying from 0 (lowest) to 99 (highest quality). Mean GWQI of 84 indicates a relatively good drinking quality of water in the aquifer. However, based on the GWQI map the quality of water declines from very good (GWQI=87) in northwest to a lower quality (GWQI= 80) in southern part of the aquifer. The lower quality of water in the southern part may have been caused by industrial activities, intensive animal husbandry, presence of wastewater plant, irrigation with treated municipal effluent and also by the inward hydraulic gradient. Map removal sensitivity analysis indicated that TSS and to some extent Na+ were important water parameters in this aquifer, which must be monitored with greater accuracy and frequency.
S. H. Sadeghi, A. Allbuali, R. Ghazavi,
Volume 20, Issue 76 (8-2016)
Abstract
Nowadays, the increasing population and water demand in various sectors of agriculture, industry, drinking and sanitation has brought about tremendous pressure on groundwater resources. Changes in groundwater quality and salinity of the water resources are currently major threats to development, especially in the dry and too dry lands. The aim of this study is evaluation of the trend of changes in groundwater quality, both temporally and spatially, in Kashan plain over a period of 12 years (2002-2013) using geostatistical methods and classification methods namely Shouler and Wilcox. Thereby, Export Choice has been used and each parameter has been weighted according to its effect on water quality changes. Then, the weighted average of water quality parameters was used for zoning the drinking and agriculture water. The results showed that among the geostatistical methods, circular Kriging based on the correlation coefficient has more acceptable performance. Moreover, the results of spatial and temporal changes in water quality based on Shouler and Wilcox indicate a decrease of drink and agriculture water quality in the study area. Besides, 1.75 km2 of high quality drinkable water was annually decreased between 2002 and 2013 and replaced with moderate or poor quality water. Also, the same but more remarkable decline happened in agriculture water so that 11.06 km2 of high quality agriculture water annually diminished from 2002 to 2009 and plunged zero by 2009.
A. H. Boali, R. Jafari, H. Bashari,
Volume 21, Issue 3 (11-2017)
Abstract
This paper aimed to assess the severity of desertification in Segzi plain located in the eastern part of Isfahan city, focusing on groundwater quality criteria used in MEDALUS model. Bayesian Belief networks (BBNs) were also used to convert MEDALUS model into a predictive, cause and effects model. Different techniques such as Kriging and IDW were applied to water quality data of 12 groundwater wells to map continuous variations of the CL, SAR, EC, TDS, pH and decline in water table indices in GIS environment. The effects of measured water quality indicators on desertification severity levels were assessed using sensitivity and scenario analysis in BBNs model. According to the results of the MEDALUS, the desertification of the study area was classified as severe class due to its low quality of groundwater. Sensitivity analysis by the both models showed that decline in waater table, water chloride content and electrical conductivity were the most important parameters responsible for desertification in the region from ground water condition standpoint. The determination coefficient between the outputs of the MEDALUS and BBNs models (R2>0.63) indicated that the results of both models were significantly correlated (α=5 %). These results indicate that the application of BBNs model in desertification assessment can appropriately accommodate the uncertainty of desertification methods and can help managers to make better decision for upcoming land management projects.
F. Amiri, T. Tabatabaie, S. Valipour,
Volume 22, Issue 1 (6-2018)
Abstract
The purpose of this paper was to assess the groundwater quality near Qaemshahr landfill site using the Iran Water Quality Index for Groundwater Resources-Conventional Parameters (IRWQIGC). In this study, samples were taken from 11 wells with three replications in February 2015 and water quality was assessed by evaluating nitrate, fecal coliform, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, total hardness, sodium absorption ratio, biological oxygen demand, phosphate, chemical oxygen demand, and dissolved oxygen parameters with the standard measuring methods; also, the quality of ground water was determined using the IRWQIGC. Statistical description of the parameters was performed using the SPSS software. Spatial extension mapping parameters were drawn using geostatistics extension with the ArcGIS software. The results of water quality assessment revealed that 0.15% of the area was classified as bad, 98.85% as relatively poor, and 1% as middle in terms of quality. The results of spatial dispersion also revealed that water quality from the South to the North and North East was reduced. Evaluating the changes in water quality near landfill sites showed that 2149.56 square meters of total area had a relatively poor potential for the region’s groundwater recharge.
K. Esmaili, S. Seifi, H. Salari,
Volume 22, Issue 3 (11-2018)
Abstract
Settling basins are one of the most essential structures for the separation of inflow sediments. This structure is established to enhance the water quality after the river-basins and water channels. Numerous studies have been conducted on the design of this structure and different methods have been provided to increase its efficiency. However, the use of simple settling basins with the minimum cost which can provide the ideal targets has been the focus of designers. In this study, the effect of flow-guiding plates and the angle between these and the inflow, and the impact of water depth in the basin on the trap efficiency of the settling basins were considered. For testing, 4 blades with specific length and angle were installed. This experiment was repeated for 3 different lengths and 3 angles. The results of the experiments showed that with the enhancement of the depth of water to 10 centimeters to 30 centimeters, while the basin had no flow-guiding plates, increased the trap efficiency of the basin by 4.9 percent. Also, by the use of flow-guiding plates in the suitable and best length and angle (in this study, the suitable size of blades was 22.5 centimeters and the best position was by the angle of 30 degrees); with the maximum of the water depth of 30 centimeters, the trap efficiency was increased by 13.3 percent. The sensitivity analysis done showed that the depth of water had the most effect on the trap efficiency of the basin and the changes in the lengths and angles of the blades position had the similar effects of the basin trap efficiency.
Z. Abbasi, H. Azimzadeh, A. Talebi, A. Sotoudeh,
Volume 22, Issue 4 (3-2019)
Abstract
Groundwater quality evaluation is very necessary to provide drinking water. Groundwater excessive consumption can cause subsidence and penetration of saline groundwater into freshwater aquifers in Ajabshir Plain, on the Urmia lake margin. The main goal of the current project was to evaluate the groundwater quality by employing the qualitative indices of groundwater and GIS. Ten parameters of 15 wells including EC, TDS, total hardness as well as the concentration of Ca++, Na+, Mg++, K+, SO4--, HCO3- and Cl- were analyzed. At first, the maps of parameters concentration were prepared by the kiriging method. Then based on WHO drinking water standards, the maps were standardized and ranked for drawing the maps of quality indices. The results showed that quality index changes were in the range of moderate (61) to acceptable (81). Removing the single map method of sensitivity analysis detected the quality index was more sensitive to the K+ parameter. Finally, the quality index from the eastern north to the western south of Ajabshir Plain and the other areas was ranked in the acceptable and moderate classes, respectively.
P. Hadipour Nicktarash, H. Ghodousi, K. Ebrahimi,
Volume 22, Issue 4 (3-2019)
Abstract
One of the factors leading to the contamination of water resources is human activity, producing waste materials. In this paper, the effects of contamination on the water quality of Taleghan River, was simulated using of Qual2k model and the seasonal changes were evaluated. The qualified data collected during two months, August (as the dry season) and February (as the wet season), were used in the modelling. The results showed that the dissolved oxygen change was in the range of 4.5-6.52 mg/L in August. However, it changed between 4.8-5.3 mg/l in February and this reduction in the wet season was due to the run off deposition and the seepages of farmland near the river. Furthermore, BOD in the wet season and the dry season changed by 6-31 and 10-26 mg/l, respectively. These changes were due to the sewage dilution in flow during the wet season. Evaluation of the pH values in wet and dry seasons also showed that water of the river was more alkaline in the wet season, which is due to the effect of non-point resources or the fertilizer entrance after farm land bleaching by rain. Evaluation of Taleghan river EC variation also showed these changes were not significant during the wet and dry seasons. Water temperature was altered by 3-100C and 19-250C, respectively, in February and August.
M. Ghandali, K. Shayesteh, M. Sadi Mesgari,
Volume 23, Issue 1 (6-2019)
Abstract
Determination of water quality is an essential issue in water resources management and its monitoring and zoning should be considered as an important principle in planning. In this study, in order to investigate the quality of groundwater resources (springs, wells and qanats) in Semnan watershed, first, the water quality index for drinking and agricultural purposes was obtained by means of measuring SO4, Cl, Na, Mg, PH, EC, SAR, TDS in 55 groundwater sources. For calculating the parameters weight in WQI, the fuzzy hierarchy analysis process was used with the Chang's development analysis. Due to the lack of sampling points for zoning of the entire area, regarding the existence of EC data for the majority of groundwater resources used in this catchment (354 sources), as well as the high correlation (Adjusted R2=0.99) between WQI with EC, the mentioned indexes of other resources were estimated based on the regression relationship with EC. To analyze the spatial distribution and monitor the zoning of the groundwater quality, the ArcGIS version 10.3 and Geostatistical method such as simple Kriging and ordinary Kriging were used; additionally certain methods including Inverse distance weighting and Radial Basis Function were utilized. The performance criteria for evaluating the used methods including Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), %RMSE and R2 were used to select the appropriate method. Our results showed that the ordinary Kriging and Radial Basis Function were the best methods to estimate the groundwater quality.
F. Soroush, A. Seifi,
Volume 23, Issue 2 (9-2019)
Abstract
Evaluation of groundwater hydro chemical characteristics is necessary for planning and water resources management in terms of quality. In the present study, a self-organizing map (SOM) clustering technique was used to recognize the homogeneous clusters of hydro chemical parameters in water resources (including well, spring and qanat) of Kerman province; then, the quality classification of groundwater samples was investigated for drinking and irrigation uses by employing SOM clusters. Patterns of water quality parameters were visualized by SOM planes, and similar patterns were observed for those parameters that were correlated with each other, indicating a same source. Based on the SOM results, the 729-groundwater samples in the study area were grouped into 4 clusters, such that the clusters 1, 2, 3, and 4 contained 73%, 6.2%, 6.7%, and 14.1% of groundwater samples, respectively. The increase order of electrical conductivity parameter in the clusters was as 1, 4, 3 and 2. The results of water quality index based on the entropy weighting (EWQI) showed that all of the samples with excellent and good quality (36.3% of samples) for drinking belonged to the cluster 1. According to the Wilcox diagram, 435-groundwater samples (81.7%) in the cluster 1 had the permitted quality for irrigation activities, and the other 285-groundwater samples were placed in all four clusters, indicating the unsuitable quality for irrigation. The Piper diagram also revealed that the dominant hydro chemical faces of cluster 1 were Na-Cl, Mixed Ca-Mg-Cl and Ca-HCO3, whereas the clusters 2, 3, and 4 had the Na-Cl face. This study, therefore, shows that the SOM approach can be successfully used to classify and characterize the groundwater in terms of hydrochemistry and water quality for drinking and irrigation purposes on a provincial scale.
Y. Sabzevari, A Nasrollahi,
Volume 23, Issue 4 (2-2020)
Abstract
One of the ways to increase water productivity in agriculture is the use of new irrigation systems; for the precise design of these systems, water quality assessment is needed. The purpose of this study was to study the groundwater quality of Khorramabad plain for the implementation of drip irrigation systems. The qualitative indices of EC, SAR, TDS, TH, Na and pH were related to the statistical years 2006-2012. In this research, the data were normalized first and it was determined that the data were abnormal; so, the logarithmic method was used for normalization. To evaluate the groundwater quality of the area, land use methods were used. Among different methods, the ordinary kriging interpolation method with the least root mean square error for all parameters was used. Quality zoning maps showed that in the north and southwest, EC and SAR concentrations were in poor condition in terms of qualitative classification. TDS had a concentration of more than 4000 milligramrels, and Na had a concentration of more than 15 milligrams / ltr. In these areas, TH with the concentration of more than 730 mg / l had the highest contamination; in the central area of the plain, there was a higher risk of carbonate sediments. LSI rates in the western regions were more than one, which included about 12% of the plain; there were restrictions on the implementation of droplet systems in these areas. The best quality for implementing these systems was located in the south-east of the plain, covering 19% of the plain. Finally, the integrated map of qualitative characteristics showed that the maximum concentration of qualitative characteristics was located in the northern, central and southern regions, which included 62.29% of the plain area.
R. Rakhshani, M. Farasati, A. Heshmatpour, M. Seyedian,
Volume 24, Issue 1 (5-2020)
Abstract
In this research, the impact of the Alagol wetland on the water treatment of Atrak River was studied. From June, 2016, to May, 2017, on the fifteenth day of the month, four samples of water were collected from the middle and the outlet of the wetland. Also, the wetland was fed only in the months of September, November and February. The parameters of acidity, electrical conductivity, phosphate, nitrate, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen and ammonia were measured. The water pH at the entrance and exit was significantly different. EC was higher at the entrance, and its value was decreased in the middle and output. DO in the outlet of the wetland was higher than that in the middle and inlet, indicating the improved water quality and high dissolved oxygen in the wetland output. NO3, NH4, PO4, BOD and COD were higher at the entrance to the wetland; also, it was decreased in the outlet and middle, and the difference was significant. Further, according to the results of September, November and February, which were fed to the wetland, water quality in the middle and outlet of the wetland was improved toward the entrance of the wetland. According to the results, Alagol wetlands could reduce the phosphorus, ammonia, BOD, COD and DO, and their concentrations were lower than the limit. However, given that the salinity at the entrance of wetland was too high, its amount in the output was higher than the standard limit and the wetland could not significantly reduce salinity. The results of this study showed that that of water pollution in the inlet, except that the dissolved oxygen parameters and the temperature were high and decreased in the middle outlet. Due to the quality of the wetland outlet, Alagol wetland water could be used for fish farming centers.
A. Ahmadpour, S. H. Mirhashemi, P. Haghighatjou, M. R. Raisi Sistani,
Volume 24, Issue 3 (11-2020)
Abstract
In this study, we used the ARIMA time series model, the fuzzy-neural inference network, multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network, and ARIMA-ANN, ARIMA-ANFIS hybrid models for the modeling and prediction of the daily electrical conductivity parameter of daily teleZang hydrometric station over the statistical period of 49 years. For this purpose, the daily data for the 1996-2004 period were used for model training and data for the 1996-2006 period were applied for testing. In order to verify the validity of the fitted ARIMA models, the residual autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation functions and Port Manteau statistics were used. PMI algorithm were then used to model and predict electrical conductivity for selecting the effective input parameter of the neural fuzzy inference network and the artificial neural network. The daily parameters of magnesium (with two days delay) and sodium (with one day delay), heat (with one day delay), flow rate (with two months delay), and acidity (with one day delay) were obtained with the lowest values of Akaike and highest values of hempel statistics as the input of the neural fuzzy inference network and the artificial neural network for modelling daily electric conductivity predictions; then predictions were made. Also, models evaluation criteria confirmed the superiority of the ARIMA-ANFIS hybrid model with the trapezoidal membership function and with two membership numbers, as compared to other models with a coefficient of determination of 0.86 and the root mean square of 29 dS / m. Also, the Arima model had the weakest performance. So, it could be applied to modeling and forecasting the daily quality parameter of the tele Zang hydrometer station.
M. Amini,
Volume 25, Issue 4 (3-2022)
Abstract
Investigation and analysis of groundwater quality to monitor contamination and identify the most important pollutants and pollution points is one of the research fields. The objective of this research was to plan to improve groundwater quality on various spatial and temporal scales. Groundwater information of Maragheh-Bonab plain was collected from 26 wells in 10 years (2001-2011) with 454 sampling points from East Azerbaijan Regional Water Organization and was analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques such as DFA and PCA. Analyzed Variables are included Mg, Ca, Cation, K, Na, TDS, TH, SAR, EC, Anion, pH, Cl, SO4, CO3, and HCO3. Results of PCA showed that variables such as cation, HCO3، TDS، SAR، EC، Anion ،Cl, Ca, and TH were identified as important variables which they can great impacts on the groundwater quality of this region and in the other hand DFA showed which mentioned variables can discriminate land uses and geology formations in primary and normal distribution data with power discriminatory of 68.7 %, 92.2 %, and 66.5 %, 89.1 %, respectively. Investigation of the spatial position of elements using interpolation technique in Maragheh-Bonab plain showed that variables concentration in lowlands are high and 20 villages and their surrounding farms are exposed to high contamination risk of groundwater.
A. Zare Garizi, K. Shahedi, A. Matboo,
Volume 28, Issue 1 (5-2024)
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.).
