Abstract
Shatt Al-Arab River (in Basrah province South of Iraq) is approximately 192 km long. It plays a key role in providing water for domestic purposes, irrigation, manufacturing, in addition to shipment. Recently the river suffers from increasing pollution, due to wastes from industries, domestic sewage and agricultural activities that find their way into water sources and result in large scale deterioration of water quality. Investigating the river size and significance, becomes necessary to perform a study to understand the water quality of this river that is considered by some experts as one of the most contaminated in Iraq. This work uses the Water Quality Index (WQI) to describe the pollution level of the river and by using Geographic Information System (GIS) to create WQI map. This study also determines the critical pollutants affecting the river water quality throughout its course. WQI has been formulated making use of several water quality parameters such as pH, temperature, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biological Oxygen Demand（BOD5), Chemical Oxygen Demand（COD）, Nitrate (NO3-2), Phosphate (PO4-3), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Turbidity (Tur), and Electrical Conductivity (E.C) which were measured at 37 sites along the river. Bad water quality was observed at the sites of the river branches, near the center of Basrah governorate. Furthermore, it was discovered that the main reason for river pollution was due to the high sewage water discharged into the river, especially river branches and illegal discharges of industrial effluent and sewage.
Highlights
Rivers are regarded as one of the main resources for supplying water for different purposes, such as for drinking, agricultural and industrial uses
The main objectives of this study are to assess the physicochemical properties of the river water, to determine the water quality of the Shatt Al -Arab River and the main branches depending on Water Quality Index (WQI), to create WQI map based on Geographic Information System (GIS) and to gatherknowledge of the resources of pollutants discharged into the river so that it can suggest the concern of actions that should be supposed by the local authority
It showed a high temperature beside the industry locations such as Paper mill factory and Al Hartha Power Station, where this station withdraws water from Shatt Al-Arab River and uses it for refrigerating the power station plant, after some RO treatments, the wastewater, at high temperature, is discharged back into Shatt Al Arab River that leads to an increase in the river water temperature near this site
Summary
Rivers are regarded as one of the main resources for supplying water for different purposes, such as for drinking, agricultural and industrial uses. These resources are employed at some place for discharge of industrial wastewater, sewage, and agricultural drainage[1]. Conventional reports on water quality are usually too detailed and technical, confronting monitoring data on single water quality variables, without supplying a comprehensive assessment of the water quality. To meet this gap, different water quality indices (WQIs) have been formulated to integrate water quality variables [2]. WQI regarded to be considered as one criterion for the classifications of surface water, on the basis of the usage of standard parameters for water evaluation and characterization
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