EVALUATION OF GROUNDWATER QUALITY FOR DRINKING PURPOSE IN BASRAHGOVERNORATE BY USING APPLICATION OF WATER QUALITY INDEX

Abstract

This study aims to apply Water Quality Index (WQI) to evaluate quality of groundwater samples collected from Basrah governorate south of Iraq. The samples were collected from (29) wells located in different districts of Basrah governorate (Safwan, Zubair, and Um-Qasr) during Summer Season of 2015. The groundwater samples were analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids and other major ions. For calculating WQI, eleven parameters; pH, EC, TDS, Total hardness as CaCO3, Calcium, Magnesium, Sulphate, Chloride, Nitrate, Sodium, and Potassium have been considered. The suitability of groundwater in the study area for human drinking purpose was achieved by WQI depending on guideline values of World Health Organization (WHO 2011) for chemical parameters. Then, the weights (Wi) were assigned to the parameters based on their influence on human health. The results showed that the (WQI) values for the groundwater of study area varied from poor to unsuitable for human drinking purpose.