PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

This study was conducted to evaluate the groundwater quality of wells located around the Hillah city of Iraq, for the purposes of determining its suitability as water for agricultural irrigation, according to the Irrigation Water Quality Index (IWQI). The number of wells that are being investigated was 24. The spatial distribution of water quality parameters was investigated using ArcGIS software. Ten parameters were established for the dry and wet seasons of 2018 and 2019, which include pH, electric conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), calcium, potassium, magnesium, bicarbonate, sodium, chloride and sulfuric. The results showed that all pH and sodium absorption ratio values were within the allowable limits. About 69%, and 75% electric conductivity, total dissolved solids, values respectively were higher than the allowable limits. Most values of positive and negative ions were higher than the allowable limits. In 2018, the water quality of (4%) of wells number was classified as moderate restriction and approximately 96% was poor quality in dry season, while the IWQI was enhanced in the wet season. In 2019, the quality of water was dropped as most of the water quality was classified as severe restriction and few in the high restriction for the dry season. These values were increased in the wet season due to the freshwater dilution effect. Water quality index show that a large percentage of the wells have poor water quality leads to severe restriction for irrigation requirements and need relatively high permeability soils and salt-resistant plants.

• Abbasnia, A., Radfard, M., Mahvi, A. H., Nabizadeh, R., Yousefi, M., Soleimani, H., & Alimohammadi, M. (2018). Groundwater quality assessment for irrigation purposes based on irrigation water quality index and its zoning with GIS in the villages of Chabahar, Sistan and Baluchistan, Iran. Data in Brief, 19, 623-631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2018.05.061‏

• Abdullah, T., Salahalddin, A., & Al-Ansari, N. (2015). Effect of agricultural activities on groundwater vulnerability: Case study of Halabja Saidsadiq Basin, Iraq. Journal of Environmental Hydrology, 23(10).‏

• Al-Amar, H. A. (2015) The quality of ground water for selected area in south of Babylon Governorate/Iraq. IOSR Journal of Applied Geology and Geophysics, 3(4), 29-36. https://doi.org/10.9790/0990-03412936

• Al-Dabbas, M. A., & Al-Ali, E. A. (2016). Computation of climatic water balance for greater Musaiyab project site in Babylon Governorate-Central of Iraq. Iraqi Journal of Science, 57(2C), 1445-1451.‏

• Al-Khaqani, M. (2006). Study the phenomenon of swelling clay soils in the city of Hillah (Unpublished Master’s thesis). College of Science, University of Baghdad, Iraq.

• Al-Mohammed, F. M., & Mutasher, A. A. (2013). Application of water quality index for evaluation of groundwater quality for drinking purpose in dibdiba aquifer, Kerbala city, Iraq. Journal of University of Babylon, 21(5), 1647-1660.‏

• Al-Qawati, M., El-Qaysy, M., Darwesh, N., Sibbari, M., Hamdaoui, F., Kherrati, I., El Kharrim, K., & Belghyti, D. (2018). Hydrogeochemical study of groundwater quality in the west of Sidi Allal Tazi, Gharb area, Morocco. Journal of Materials and Environmental Sciences, 9(1), 293-304. https://doi.org/10.26872/jmes.2018.9.1.33

• Al-Ridah, Z. A., Al-Zubaidi, H. A. M., Naje, A. S., & Ali, I. M. (2020). Drinking water quality assessment by using water quality index (WQI) for Hillah River, Iraq. Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper, 26(1), 390-399.

• Al-Zubaydi, J. H., Al-Kaildy, A. A., & Al-Rubaey, M. Q. (2016). Engineering properties of soft clay stabilized with lime materials, emulsified asphalt and bentonite sodium for sub grade of road under construction in Hilla city-Babylon governorate. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 7(5), 347-367.‏

• Ayers, R. S., & Westcot, D. W. (1985). Water quality for agriculture (Vol. 29). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.‏

• Ayers, R. S., & Westcot, D. W. (1999). The water quality in agriculture. UFPB.

• Basha, A. A., Durrani, M. I., & Paracha, P. I. (2010). Chemical characteristics of drinking water of Peshawar. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 9(10), 1017-1027. https://doi.org/10.3923/pjn.2010.1017.1027

• Bernardo, S. (1995). Manual of irrigation (4th Ed.). UFV.

• Bhat, M. A., Wani, S. A., Singh, V. K., Sahoo, J., Tomar, D., & Sanswal, R. (2018). An overview of the assessment of groundwater quality for irrigation. Journal of Agricultural Science and Food Research, 9(1), Article 1000209.‏

• Boateng, T. K., Opoku, F., Acquaah, S. O., & Akoto, O. (2016). Groundwater quality assessment using statistical approach and water quality index in Ejisu-Juaben Municipality, Ghana. Environmental Earth Sciences, 75(6), Article 489.‏ https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-5105-0

• Chabuk, A., Al-Ansari, N., Hussein, M. H., Kamaleddin, S., Knutsson, S., Pusch, R., & Laue, J. (2017). Soil characteristics in selected landfill sites in the Babylon Governorate, Iraq. Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture 11, 348-363. https://doi.org/10.17265/1934-7359/2017.04.005

• Deshmukh, K. K. (2013). Impact of human activities on the quality of groundwater from Sangamner Area, Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra, India. International Research Journal of Environment Sciences, 2(8), 66-74.

• Gidey, A. (2018). Geospatial distribution modeling and determining suitability of groundwater quality for irrigation purpose using geospatial methods and water quality index (WQI) in Northern Ethiopia. Applied Water Science, 8, Article 82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-018-0722-x

• Hassan, T., Parveen, S., Bhat, B. N., & Ahmad, U. (2017). Seasonal variations in water quality parameters of River Yamuna, India. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 6(5), 694-712. https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.605.079

• Holanda, J. S., & Amorim, J. A. (1997). Management and control salinity and irrigated agriculture water. Congresso Brasileiro de Engenharia setting, 26, 137-169.‏ http://dx.doi.org/10.18535/ijetst/v3i09.10

• Jain, C. K., Sharma, M. K., & Omkar, K. (1997). Ground water quality variation in district Jammu. Indian Journal Of Environmental Protection, 17(6), 401-405.

• Kushwah, R. K., Malik, S., Majumdar, K., & Bajpai, A. (2012). Wastewater quality studies of inlet and outlet at municipal wastewater treatment plant at Bhopal, India. International Journal of Chemical Sciences, 10(2), 993-1000.

• Lateef, K. H. (2011). Evaluation of ground water quality for drinking purpose for Tikrit and Samarra cities using water quality index. European Journal of Scientific Research, 58(4), 472-481.

• Mahmood, A. A., Eassa, A. M., Muayad, H. M., & Israa, Y. S. (2013). Assessment of ground water quality at Basrah, Iraq by water quality index (WQI). Journal of University of Babylon, 21(7), 2531-2543.

• Majeed, S. A. A. D., Mohammed, O. I., & Hassan, W. H. (2016, December 27-29). Determining irrigation water quality index for evaluation groundwater quality of Green-Belt Zone, Karbala, Iraq.‏ In 4th International Congress on Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urban Development (pp. 1-12). Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

• Mallick, J. (2017). Hydrogeochemical characteristics and assessment of water quality in the Al-Saad Lake, Abha Saudi Arabia. Applied Water Science, 7(6), 2869-2882. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-017-0553-1

• Meireles, A., Andrade, E. M., Chaves, L., Frischkorn, H., & Crisostomo, L. A., (2010). A new proposal of the classification of irrigation water. Revista Ciencia Agronomica, 413, 349-357. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1806-66902010000300005

• Ravikumar, P., & Somashekar, R. K. (2015). Principal component analysis and hydrochemical facies characterization to evaluate groundwater quality in Varahi river basin, Karnataka state, India. Applied Water Science, 7(2), 745-755.‏ https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-015-0287-x

• Salama, R. B., Otto, C. J., & Fitzpatrick, R. W. (1999). Contributions of groundwater conditions to soil and water salinization. Hydrogeology Journal, 7, 46-64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s100400050179

• Singh, C. K., Kumari, R., Singh, N., Mallick, J., & Mukherjee, S. (2012). Fluoride enrichment in aquifers of the Thar desert: Controlling factors and its geochemical modelling. Hydrological Processes, 27(17), 2462-2474.‏ https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.9247

• Sravanthi, K., & Sudarshan, V. (1998). Geochemistry of groundwater, Nacharam Industrial area, Ranga Reddy district, A.P. India. Journal of Environmental Geochemistry, 1(2), 81-88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-016-0441-0