Evaluation of groundwater quality in al-waffa and kubaysa areas using multivariate statistical analysis, Al-Anbar, Western Iraq

Abstract

The groundwater is a substantial source of fresh water and has been used for various anthropogenic uses. The aim of this work is to investigate groundwater quality and type in kubaysa and AL-Waffa areas, Anbar, Iraq using multivariate statistics approach. The groundwater was sampled from ten wells for each region during the period from October 2018 to March 2019. The levels of T, TUR, pH, EC, TDS, DO, COD, TH, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NH4+, Cl-, F-, SO42-,, NO3-, HCO3-, S-2 and SiO2, were measured. The majority of the physicochemical parameters exceed the permissible guidelines. Pearson’s Correlation technique, multivariate statistical tools such as cluster analysis and principle component analysis were applied to determine the groundwater type. For Al –Waffa area, the EC had a positive strong correlation with TDS, Na+, Cl-. The TDS had positive strong correlations with NO3-. TH and Ca2+ possess a very good positive correlation between each other and positive strong correlations with SO42-. Sodium has positive strong correlations with k+ and Cl-. For the kubaysa area, the EC has positive strong correlations with TDS, Na+, K+ and Cl-. The TDS have positive strong correlations with TH, Ca2+, Na+, K+, Cl-, and SO42-. The piper diagram indicates that the groundwater types in AL-Waffa and kubaysa regions are Ca2+, Mg2+, SO42-and Ca2+, Mg2+,Cl-, SO42 respectively. The results showed unsuitable water for drinking purposes and need to be treated. The main finding of the current study is a suggestion to use the multivariate statistics technique in determining the groundwater classification type as an alternative method for the piper diagram.