Developing Water Quality Index to Assess the Quality of the Drinking Water

Shahad Esmaeel Mohammed,Khalid Adel Abdulrazzaq

doi:10.28991/cej-03091164

Abstract

In the present study, an attempt has been to develop a new water quality index (WQI) method that depends on the Iraqi specifications for drinking water (IQS 417, 2009) to assess the validity of the Euphrates River for drinking by classifying the quality of the river water at different stations along its entire reach inside the Iraqi lands. The proposed classifications by this method are: Excellent, Good, Acceptable, Poor, and Very poor. Eight water quality parameters have been selected to represent the quality of the river water these are: Ion Hydrogen Concentration (pH), Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Sodium (Na), Chloride (Cl), Sulphate (SO_4), Nitrate (NO_3), and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). The variation of the water quality parameters along the river have been represented by graphs using Excel.2013 software. The results revealed that the quality of the Euphrates River ranges from “Good” to “Poor”, it enters the Iraqi borders with “Good” water quality and gradually its quality begins to decrease after it receives pollution from many sources such as domestic sewage and different industrial effluents until its quality becomes “Poor” according to the proposed classification. Finally the proposed WQI can be used as a tool to assess the quality of the river with both place and time.

Highlights

Freshwater sources in the form of rivers are considered a fundamental for the wellbeing of a hale and healthy society
The variation of these parameters will be assessed at eleven stations along the Euphrates River inside the Iraqi lands and will be compared with the maximum limit set by the Iraqi drinking water specifications (IQS 417, 2009) for each one of the eight parameters as shown in (Figures 2-9.)
The developed water quality index was used as a tool to express the validity of the Euphrates River for drinking

Summary

Introduction

Freshwater sources in the form of rivers are considered a fundamental for the wellbeing of a hale and healthy society. Point source pollution comes from a single known source such as effluents from industries and wastewater treatment plants [3], whereas nonpoint sources may be runoff associated with a particular land use such as urban (e.g., storm water, sewage overflows), agriculture (e.g., fertilizers, pesticides, animal manure) [4] Entry of these sources into water can represent the discharge of toxic chemicals and pathogenic microorganisms; water quality monitoring and sanitary risk identification are essential to protect the population from waterborne diseases and to develop appropriate evaluation of surface water quality especially in drinking water sources [5, 6]. Many water quality assessment models have been used to assess the quality of

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion