Assessment of Groundwater Quality over the Erbil Plain Based on Water Quality Index

Abstract

Groundwater is used for drinking, household and agricultural activities by the growers surrounding Erbil city. Therefore, it was necessary to determine its quality by measuring physical and chemical parameters according to standard method. Thus, water samples have been collected from sixteen wells during December 2016, March, Jun, and September 2017 within 1liter polyethylene bottles and transported to the laboratory for analysis and analyzed according to Canadian Water quality Index Formula (WQI). The WQI of groundwater was based on 22 parameters including pH, electrical conductivity, total hardness, calcium hardness, magnesium hardness, total alkalinity, chloride, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand, sodium, potassium, sulphate, orthophosphate, nitrate, oil and grease, zinc, copper, iron, nickel, lead, cadmium and mercury. WQI was found to be 38.87, which indicates a poor quality that the water was not suitable for direct consumption and must be treated before use to avoid water-related diseases.

Keywords

• erbil plain
• groundwater quality
• physicochemical characteristics
• and water quality index.