Groundwater Quality Assessment for Sustainable Drinking and Irrigation

Esmaeil Asadi, Mohammad Isazadeh, Saeed Samadianfard, Mohammad Firuz Ramli, Amir Mosavi, Narjes Nabipour, Shahaboddin Shamshirband, Eva Hajnal and Kwok-Wing Chau
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Esmaeil Asadi: Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz 51666-16471, Iran
Mohammad Isazadeh: Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz 51666-16471, Iran
Saeed Samadianfard: Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz 51666-16471, Iran
Mohammad Firuz Ramli: Department of Environmental Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
Amir Mosavi: Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road, Queensland 4059, Australia
Narjes Nabipour: Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, Da Nang 550000, Vietnam
Shahaboddin Shamshirband: Department for Management of Science and Technology Development, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City 758307, Vietnam
Eva Hajnal: Alba Regia Technical Faculty, Obuda University, 8000 Szekesfehervar, Hungary
Kwok-Wing Chau: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Shahab S Band

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Identification and management of the groundwater quality are of utmost importance for maintaining freshwater resources in arid and semi-arid areas, which is essential for sustainable development. Based on the quality of the groundwater in various areas, local policymakers and water resource managers can allocate the usage of resources for either drinking or agricultural purposes. This research aims to identify suitable areas of water pumping for drinking and agricultural harvest in the Tabriz aquifer, located in East Azerbaijan province, northwest Iran. A groundwater compatibility study was conducted by analyzing Electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), Chloride (Cl), Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Sulfate (SO 4 ), Total hardness (TH), Bicarbonate (HCO 3 ), pH, carbonate (CO 3 ), the and Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR) obtained from 39 wells in the time period from 2003 to 2014. The Water Quality Index (WQI) and irrigation water quality (IWQ) index are respectively utilized due to their high importance in identifying the quality of water resources for irrigation and drinking purposes. The WQI index zoning for drinking classified water as excellent, good, or poor. The study concludes that most drinking water harvested for urban and rural areas is ‘excellent water’ or ‘good water’. The IWQ index average for the study area is reported to be in the range of 25.9 to 34.55. The results further revealed that about 37 percent (296 km 2 ) of groundwater has high compatibility, and 63 percent of the study area (495 km 2 ) has average compatibility for agricultural purposes. The trend of IWQ and WQI indexes demonstrates that groundwater quality has been declining over time.

Keywords: sustainable water harvesting; water quality index (WQI); irrigation water quality (IWQ); groundwater quality; hydroinformatics; hydrologic cycle; earth system models; hydrology; climate change; water resource management; sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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