assessing of water quality of al-kufa river for drinking...

International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology E-ISSN 2277 – 4106, P-ISSN 2347 – 5161 ©2017 INPRESSCO®, All Rights Reserved Available at http://inpressco.com/category/ijcet

Research Article

1566| International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.7, No.4 (Aug 2017)

Assessing of Water Quality of Al-Kufa River for Drinking Water using WQI and GIS Mohammed Ali Alanbari, Saif Salah Alqizweeni and Rusul Ali Abdalwahed*

*Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Babylon, Iraq **Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kufa, Iraq Received 30 May 2017, Accepted 05 Aug 2017, Available online 14 Aug 2017, Vol.7, No.4 (Aug 2017)

Abstract Traditional methods do not fulfill the demands for study quality and situation of water of great areas which need enough time and money therefore, Water Quality Index (WQI) and Geographical Information System (GIS) were employed to evaluation the quality of raw water of Kufa river for drinking water because of its important in Najaf province. Water samples from seven different stations along Kufa river for twelve months from July – 2013 to June – 2014 were collected. Eleven water quality parameters were analyzed including total hardness(TH), turbidity, (pH), electrical conductivity (Ec), total dissolved solids (TDS), alklinity (Alk.), chloride (Cl), calcium (Ca), sodium(Na), magnesium (Mg) and potassium (K). The use of Water Quality Index (WQI) to offer a useful representation of the overall quality of water for public or any intended use as well as indicating pollution, which are useful in water quality management and decision making. The application of Water Quality Index (WQI) with several physicochemical water quality parameters was performed to evaluate the quality of Kufa River water for human uses. The average annual overall WQI for drinking water was found to be (77.895) through the study period. From this analysis the quality of the Kufa River is classified as Very poor quality ranging Poor water at the river upstream near station (K1) and Very poor for drinking at the river downstream near station (K7). The monthly WQI variation ranged higher value (106.49) at December_2013 and lower value (65.92) at March_2014 along Kufa River, and classify from (Unfit and unsuitable for drinking to Poor water quality) . The high WQI obtained is a result of the various human activities taking place along the river banks. Results suggest that, the use of (GIS) and water quality index (WQI) methods could provide a very useful and efficient tool to show the pollution in the river for different uses and to water resource management. Keywords: Kufa River, Drinking water quality, Water quality parameters, WQI and GIS . Introduction

1 The river is defined as a large natural stream of water emptying into an ocean, lake, or other body of water and usually fed along its course by converging-tributaries. Rivers and streams drain water that falls in upland areas. Moving water dilutes and decomposes pollutants more rapidly than standing water, but many rivers and streams are significantly polluted all around the-world. A primary reason for this is that all three major sources of pollution (industry, agriculture and domestic) are concentrated along the rivers. Industries and cities have historically been located along rivers because the rivers provide transportation and have traditionally been a convenient place to discharge waste. Agricultural activities have tended to be concentrated near rivers, because river floodplains are exceptionally fertile due to the many nutrients that are deposited in the soil when the river overflows *Corresponding author’s ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4661-6241

[Lenntech, 2014]. The definition of water quality is very much depending on the desired use of water. Therefore, different uses require different criteria of water quality as well as standard methods for reporting and comparing results of water analysis [Khodapanah,L., et al, 2009].

On the other hand, GIS is very helpful tool for developing solutions for water resources problems to assess in water quality, determining water availability and understanding the natural environment on a local and / or regional scale. From GIS, spatial distribution mapping for various pollutants can be done. The resulting information is very useful for policy makers to take remedial measures [Swarna Latha, P., and Nageswara Rao, K., 2010]. Kufa River passes through Al-Najaf province, the source of water for Al-Najaf province is from this river. Due to the population growth, agriculture and urbanization, municipal wastes and agricultural wastes have been increased considerably into the river. The problems of water

Mohammed Ali Alanbari et al Assessing of Water Quality of Al-Kufa River for Drinking Water using WQI and GIS


quality have become more important than the quantity. Therefore, the present study focuses on the water quality analysis of Kufa River using GIS. In addition, water quality index (WQI) is used to identify the suitability of water samples from various sampling locations for human utility. Materials and Methods Description of the study area Kufa is a city in Iraq, about 170 kilometres south of Baghdad (capital of Iraq), and 10 kilometres northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. Euphrates river branches after Al-Kifil town directly about )1Km) to two branches (first one is Al-Kufa river with a length of 73 km and width about 100 m and another branch named Al-Abbasia river). The main source of water for Al-Kufa river is rain water, stored water as lake and reservoirs. The water level is not stable at the river, according to the season of the year, in the summer decline is attributed to its lowest level so that the bottom of the river can be seen in some areas and even in winter the water levels are not rising as required, and the center of the river is not covered with water even in winter and the rainy season .The nature of the land surrounding the river is agricultural land, with some residential buildings and farming land on the other side.(Abdulmuttaleb H., 2012). Figure (1) shows study area of Kufa River and figure (2) shows the elevations of Kufa River.

Fig. 1 Shows study area (Abdulmuttaleb H., 2012)

Fig. 2 Shows the elevations of Kufa River by using (GPS) and measured by researcher

Samples collection In order to give a comprehensive idea of the overall

water quality and to determine the water quality index

of the river, water samples were collected from seven

stations along the Kufa River near by the Al-Najaf

station to the Qadesyia Bridge. These stations were

selected to carry out the present study a long 58.859

km stretch of Kufa River situated in AI-Najaf city.

According to the readings of GPS instrument (Garmin

modal GPS 72H) the coordinates (x,y,z) for the

locations of water samples along Kufa River are

described in table (1) and shown in fig.(3). The data

used in this study covered the period from July 2013 to

June 2014 which represent the monthly values for

eleven water parameters. These eleven parameters are

shown in table (2).

Table 1 Description of the monitoring stations along

the Kufa River within Al-Najaf province

Stations Location

Coordinates

Dis

tan

ce b

etw

een

st

atio

ns

(km

)

Acc

um

ula

ted

d

ista

nce

(k

m)

X Y Z

K1

Near the water

project of Najaf 4

41

26

3

35

50

16

7

14

m

0

K2

Near the water

project of Kufa 4

43

40

6

35

45

39

4

13

m

6.9

16

6.9

16

K3

Near the water

project of Issa 4

48

07

6

35

38

94

9

12

m

11

.11

5

18

.03

1

K4

Near the water

project of Manathira 4

52

23

0

35

29

78

7

11

m

13

.31

6

31

.34

7

K5 Near the

Mashkhab bridge 4

52

28

3

35

18

81

5

11

m

11

42

.34

7

K6 Near the Shaalan market 4

53

97

9

35

14

77

2

11

m

5.7

39

48

.08

6

K7 Near the

Qadisiyah bridge 4

50

87

3

35

07

10

5

11

m

10

.77

3

58

.85

9



Fig. 3 Stations location for water quality monitoring along the Kufa River within Al-Najaf province

Table 2 Water quality parameters which are used in

this study

Parameters Symbol Unit

Total Alkalinity Alk. mg/ l

Calcium Ca mg/ l

Magnesium Mg mg/l

Chloride Cl mg/ l

Electrical Conductivity Ec s/cm

Total Hardness TH mg/ l

Turbidity Turb. NTU

Total Dissolved Solids TDS mg/ l

Hydrogen Ion concentration

pH -

Potassium K mg/l

Sodium Na mg/l

Water Quality Index (WQI)

A Water Quality Index (WQI) is defined as a rating reflecting the composite influence of different water quality parameters on the overall quality of water (Deininger, 1971; Harkins, 1974 and Tiwari, 1988). The objective of water quality index is to turn complex water quality data into information that is understandable and usable by the public. A single number cannot tell the whole story of water quality; there are other water quality parameters that are not included in the index. However, a water quality index based on some very important can provide a simple indicator of water quality. In general, water quality indices indicator data from multiple water quality parameters into a mathematical equation that rates the health of a water body with number. The concept of indices to represent gradation in water quality was first proposed by Horton (Horton, 1965). It indicates the quality by an index number, which represents the overall quality of water for any intended use. The present study is aimed to calculate the Water Quality Index (WQI) of the Kufa River in order to assess the suitability of its water for drinking use.

Methodology and the work of (GIS) GIS is a powerful tool for developing solutions for

water resources such as assessing water quality and

managing water resources on a local or regional scale.

Use GIS technology to integrate various data and

applications into one, manageable system. The suite of

tools contained in Arc Hydro facilitate the creation,

manipulation, and display of hydro features and

objects within the ArcGIS environment ( Esri ,2014) .

The Geographic information system (GIS) software have been used in this study. Arc GIS(10.2.2) provides tools to evaluate surface water quality. Calculation of the (WQI) by using (WAM) method:- The water quality index was calculated using the

assigned weighted arithmetic index method. The

important physicochemical parameters were used with

respect to their suitability for human consumption and

availability of data from each station. These

parameters were compared with the permissible

values for drinking water quality that recommended by

the Standards based on the formula to calculate WQI

proposed by (Tiwari and Mishra ,1985):

(1)

Where: -

wi = Unit weight factor;

K = proportional constant

The quality rating scale (qi) is a number reflecting the

relative value of this parameter in the polluted water

with respect to its standard permissible value and is

determined as follows:

( )

(2)

Where:

qi= quality rating scale for the ith water quality

parameter.

Vi= estimate permissible value of the ith parameter.

V10= Ideal value of the ith parameter pure water.

Si = standard permissible value of ith parameter.

All the ideal values (V10 = 0) are taken as zero for

drinking water except for pH = 7.0

Overall WQI =

(3) Based on the calculated WQI, the classification of water quality types is shown in table (3).



Table 3 Water quality classification based on WQI value (Tiwari and Mishra 1985)

Water quality classification WQI level No.

Excellent 0-25 1 Good 26-50 2 Poor 51-75 3

Very poor 76-100 4 Unfit and unsuitable for

human uses More than 100 5

Results and Discussion Water Quality Index for drinking water

The water quality index (WQI) along Kufa River within Al-Najaf province has been calculated using the (WAM) method by some parameters of raw water that were studied in respect to their suitability for human consumption. The descriptive statistical analysis for the collected water quality parameters are shown in table (4). Based on the WQI value, water is categorized into five groups ranging from Excellent water to Unfit and unsuitable for drinking. The unit weight (wi) for all the eleven chosen parameters with standard values one given in table (5).

Table 4 Discriptive summary of mean water quality values along Kufa River within Al-Najaf province

during 2013-2014

Stations & parameters

K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 Mean

pH

7.4

7

7.4

9

7.5

6

7.6

1

7.4

2

7.5

5

7.4

5

7.5

1

Turb.

6.9

8

7.9

9

8.5

6

7.2

9

9.0

3

8.4

5

8.9

2

8.1

7

Ec

15

86

.75

16

23

.58

16

25

.33

15

50

.75

16

09

16

47

.83

16

57

16

14

.32

Alk. 12

5

12

8.6

7

12

6.5

12

6.5

13

3.1

7

13

3.8

3

12

6.6

7

12

8.6

2

TDS

10

15

.17

10

22

.42

10

11

.67

99

9.4

2

10

19

.5

10

22

.67

10

78

.67

10

24

.22

T.H

47

5.5

49

8.7

5

48

5.6

7

45

8.6

7

48

1.6

7

46

1

48

1.0

8

47

7.4

8

Ca

10

5.3

9

12

0.2

3

11

1.9

1

11

0.1

6

10

8.5

8

11

6.0

3

11

7.9

11

2.8

9

Mg

53

.41

51

.86

49

.51

49

.23

53

.95

45

.73

47

.63

50

.19

Na

12

1.8

3

12

8.9

2

11

8.4

2

12

0.6

9

13

4.5

13

5.5

13

3.8

3

12

7.6

7

K

5.6

1

6.3

5

6.0

1

5.7

7

6.3

6

6.8

5

6.5

2

6.2

1

Cl

14

9.9

6

15

1.0

2

14

2.8

6

14

7.7

7

16

3.4

4

17

0.7

5

17

0.4

2

15

6.6

Table 5 Water quality parameter stabndards, assigned

and unit weight (Tiwari and Mishra ,1985)

Water quality Parameters

Standard value (Si )

Proportional weight (K)

Unit weight factor (wi)

pH 8.5 1 0.074 Turb. 5 1 0.074

Ec 2000 2 0.148 Alk. 200 1.5 0.112 TDS 1000 2 0.148 T.H 500 1 0.074 Ca 150 1 0.074 Mg 100 1 0.074 Na 200 1 0.074 K 10 1 0.074 Cl 350 1 0.074 13.5 1.00

The computed overall WQI value of all the samples and stations along Kufa River was (77.895) which implies that the water is generally Very poor as shown in table (6) and fig.(4). The computed monthly overall WQI along Kufa River for all samples and stations was (78.048), which implies that the water is generally Very poor as shown in table (7). The monthly WQI variation ranged higher value (106.49) at Dec._2013 and lower value (65.92) at March_2014 along Kufa River, and classify from (Unfit and unsuitable for drinking to Poor water quality) as shown in fig.(5). The annual river water quality index variation along Kufa River ranged (74.434) Poor quality at the upstream near station (K1) and (80.582) Very poor at the downstream near station (K7) which reflect the effects of pollution as shown in table (8) and fig.(6). The result obtained from this study indicates that the overall WQI of Kufa River water is not within the permissible limits for drinking water, thereby signifying contamination. The high value of WQI is obtained as a result of the various human activities taking place at the river bank.

Fig. 4 Shows the overall WQI for drinking water within water quality classification

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

0

26

51

76

25

50

75

WQI(77.895)

More than 100

100

WQ

I le

ve

l

Water quality classification

Excellent Good Poor Very poor Unfit



Table 6 Computed overall WQI values for drinking water along Kufa River within Al-Najaf province during

2013-2014

Par

amet

ers

Mea

sure

d

valu

e

(Vi )

Stan

dar

d

valu

e

(Si )

Idea

l V

alu

e (V

10

)

Pro

po

rtio

nal

w

eigh

t (

K)

Un

it w

eigh

t f

acto

r (w

i)

Qu

alit

y

rati

ng

(qi)

WQ

I (w

i*q

i)

pH

7.5

1

8.5

7

1

0.0

74

34

2.5

16

Tu

rb.

8.1

7

5

0

1

0.0

74

16

3.4

12

.09

2

Ec

16

14

.32

20

00

0

2

0.1

48

80

.71

6

11

.94

6

Alk

.

12

8.6

2

20

0

0

1.5

0.1

12

64

.31

7.2

03

TD

S

10

24

.22

10

00

0

2

0.1

48

10

2.4

2

15

.15

8

T.H

47

7.4

8

50

0

0

1

0.0

74

95

.49

6

7.0

67

Ca

11

2.8

9

15

0

0

1

0.0

74

75

.26

5.5

69

Mg

50

.19

10

0

0

1

0.0

74

50

.19

3.7

14

Na

12

7.6

7

20

0

0

1

0.0

74

63

.83

5

4.7

24

K

6.2

1

10

0

1

0.0

74

62

.1

4.5

95

Cl

15

6.6

35

0

0

1

0.0

74

44

.74

3

3.3

11

13

.5

1.0

0

83

6.4

7

77

.89

5

Table 7 Monthly WQI variations along Kufa River

within Al-Najaf province during 2013-2014

Months WQI Water quality classify

July_2013 77.576 Very poor

Aug._2013 74.834 Poor

Sep._2013 84.778 Very poor

Oct._2013 79.705 Very poor

Nov._2013 83.591 Very poor

Dec._2013 106.49 Unfit and unsuitable for drinking

Jan._2014 72.868 Poor

Feb._2014 76.38 Very poor

March_2014 65.92 Poor

Apr._2014 73.6 Poor

May_2014 73.189 Poor

June_2014 67.648 Poor

Mean 78.048 Very poor

Fig. 5 Variation of monthly mean values of WQI for

drinking water in Kufa River within Al-Najaf province

during 2013-2014

Table 8 Annual WQI variations for all stations along

Kufa River within Al-Najaf province during 2013-2014

Stations WQI Water quality classify

K1 74.434 Poor

K2 78.407 Very poor

K3 77.738 Very poor

K4 74.874 Poor

K5 79.507 Very poor

K6 79.667 Very poor

K7 80.582 Very poor

Mean 77.887 Very poor

Fig. 6 Variation of annual mean values of WQI for

drinking water at the stations along Kufa River within

Al-Najaf province during 2013-2014

Using the (GIS) software In this study eleven physico–chemical parameters

were considered in the analysis. GIS is used to link the

results of (WQI) with (GIS). Produce new map of GIS

represents the distribution of WQI for drinking water

in the study area to show the impact of pollution on the

surface water quality. Fig (7).



Fig. 7 The final distribution of (WQI) for drinking water in the study area

Conclusions 1) Application of WQI in this study has been found

very useful in the assessment of the overall water quality. Along seven stations on the Kufa River within Al-Najaf province during the study period revealed that the water quality is not suitable for drinking purposes. The results indicated that the water quality of Kufa River is generally Very poor and it ranged poor water at the upstream and very poor for drinking at the downstream which reflected the effect of pollution due to domestic and agricultural wastes.

2) The results showed that the worst water quality for drinking water according to the WQI classification was in December 2013.

3) The study showed that there is integration between the information obtained from laboratory analysis with GIS software during the study of Kufa River .

4) The results indicated that the use of (GIS) and water quality index (WQI) methods could provide a very useful and an efficient tool to summarize and to report on the monitoring data to the decision makers in order to be able to understand the status of the surface water quality.

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