Abstract
The current study was conducted on the southern part of Gharaf River in order to define the physical-chemical properties and the impact of the Tigris River’s floodplain water on its ecological characteristics during 2019. Four sites were selected along the southern part of the river. The findings showed a strong connection between the temperature of air and water at all sites. A value ranging from 4.85 - 84.65 NTU was reported for turbidity. The water was found to be oligohaline, low alkaline, and well ventilated due to high dissolved oxygen concentrations. Gharaf River is considered to be of questionable clean water, according to the results of BOD5. The total alkalinity values were recorded to be in the range of 92-292.8 mg /L, which are higher than the acceptable limits of 20-200 mg /L CaCO3 for the Iraqi and international water standards. It was also found that Gharaf River water was very hard, but still within the allowable natural water limits (200 mg /L Ca and 150 mg /L Mg). Concentrations of sulphate ranged 50-200 mg / L, while levels of bicarbonate ranged 140-230 mg /L. On the other hand, ranges of 3354-855 mg / L and 3-85 mg / L, respectively, were recorded for TDS and TSS. In addition, nitrates values were found to be in the range of 0.04-5.14 mg / L, being below the permissible limits for Iraqi water (15 mg / L). Other values observed for phosphates were 0.004-0.085 mg / L. Overall, the results demonstrated different effects on the properties of Gharaf River water during and after the floodplain period.
Highlights
Water plays a major role in life of aquatic organisms
The current study dealt with the southern part of Gharaf River, one of the major branches of the Tigris River in Wasit Governorate
The main aims were to investigate the ecological characteristics of the river, along with the impacts of the Tigris River floodplain during the 2019 on these characteristics
Summary
Water plays a major role in life of aquatic organisms. Quality of water is affected by changes in atmospheric and geological circumstances [1], eventually affecting quality, quantity, and distribution of aquatic organisms, including zooplankton [2]. The current study dealt with the southern part of Gharaf River, one of the major branches of the Tigris River in Wasit Governorate. Gharaf River is one of the major branches of the Tigris River, located at Kut Barrage in the south east of Iraq [15]. We selected four stations for the collection of study samples in the southern part of Gharaf River (Figure-1). The first site is located in Al-Hay District in the southern part of Al- Kut City On this site, located at longitude 598753.7945 and latitude 355497.927, the width of the river is about 120 m and its depth is 5 m. TDS was measured according to the method mentioned in APHA [ 18 ]. The Degremont method [ 24 ] was used to measure the bicarbonate level in the water of the studied sites.
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