Water wells quality assessment for drinking purposes using water quality index and correlation study in Al-qaim City, Al-Anbar, Iraq

Abstract

Fifteen groundwater samples have been collected from five sites in the current study for a period of three months (July 2002, October 2002 and January 2003) to evaluate the suitability of water wells quality for drinking purposes using water quality index (WQI) and correlation matrix analysis in Al-Qaim City in the Province of Al-anbar near general company of phosphate. WQI technique requires physical and chemical parameters to hold the calculations. These parameters include Electrical Conductivity, pH, cations and anions. The calculated water quality index (WQI) indicates that only one wells (No.3) fall in class II (good water) while remaining wells (No.1, 2, 4, and 5) fall in class III (poor water). High values of WQI cause by the high concentration of Electrical conductivity, Ca2+, SO42-, K+, and Mg2+. This is evident through the good correlation coefficient between them. The present study indicates that only water well number 3 can be using for drinking purpose and remaining studied wells contain unsuitable water for drinking purpose and need to be treated in the case of use