Evaluation of Karun River Water Quality Based on IRWQI and WAWQI Indicators in Molasani and Ahvaz Stations

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 civil Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran

2 Civil Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran

Abstract

Rriver pollution due to various urban and industrial wastewater and agricultural effluents is a serious threat to human health and aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, surface water quality assessment is one of the main indicators of sustainable resource management. The present study was conducted to evaluate the water quality of Karun River (in Molasani and Ahvaz Stations) during 1397 using two indicators, IRWQI and WAWQI. Also, various physical, chemical and biological parameters of water were statistically analyzed. An examination of both indicators' value shows that the river situation in downstream is declining due to the entry of industrial wastewater, especially agro-industrial units, sugarcane factories and thermal power plants along the river. The results show that the river water quality according to WAWQI index in Malasani and Ahvaz stations is in poor and very poor category and according to IRWQI index is relatively poor. The WAWQI index related to Ahvaz station in May (85.89) and Mollasani in July (49.04) is in the worst and best condition. Also, IRWQI index in the lowest and highest quality level is related to Ahvaz station in December (32.75) and Malasani station in July (42.51). Therefore, based on the results obtained from quality indicators, it can be concluded that the WAWQI index is slightly more conservative in classifying water quality than the IRWQI index. Also, due to the high values ​​of fecal coliform parameters, TDS and turbidity in both stations, water is not suitable for any of the drinking, agricultural and aquatic ecosystem uses. The statistical analysis the sum of anions and cations with 0.46% and fecal coliform with 24.14% have the lowest and highest portion in WAWQI, respectively. This study shows that TDS in river shows a strong correlation with sodium and chlorine.

Keywords


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