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Lack of land for waste disposal is one of the main problems facing urban areas in developing countries. The Sulaimaniyah Governorate, located in northern Iraq, is one of the main cities of the country in the Kurdistan Region, covering an area of 2400 km2. Currently, there is no landfill site in the study region that meets scientific and environmental requirements, inappropriate dumping of solid waste causes adverse effects on the environment, economic and urban aesthetic. To overcome with this phenomenon, it is very crucial to suggest a landfill site, even in countries that recycle or burn their waste to protect the environment. Landfill sites should be carefully selected by considering all regulations and other restrictions. The integration of geographic information systems and multi-criteria decision analysis is used in this study to select suitable landfill locations in the region, for this purpose, thirteen layers are prepared according to their importance including urban area, villages, rivers, groundwater depth, slope, elevation, soil types, geological formations, roads, oil and gas field, land use classification, archaeological site and power lines. Two different methods (simple additive weighting and analytic hierarchy process) are implemented in a geographical information system to obtain the suitability index map for candidate landfill sites, where all these sites satisfied the scientific and environmental criteria which were adopted in this study. The comparison of the maps resulting from these two different methods demonstrates that both methods produced consistent results., Validerad;2020;Nivå 1;2020-04-28 (johcin)

Evaluation of the hydrogeochemical characteristics and groundwater suitability for domestic use was conducted in the Halabja Saidsadiq Basin in the northeastern part of Iraq. The total studied area is about 1278 km 2 with a specific Mediterranean-type continental interior climate, which is cold in winter and hot in summer. To conduct the required laboratory chemical analysis for groundwater samples in the studied basin, 78 groundwater samples, in total, were collected from 39 water wells in the dry and wet seasons in 2014 and analyzed for major cations and anions, and the results were compared with the permitted limits for drinking water. An examination of the chemical concentrations of the World Health Organization drinking water norms demonstrate that a large portion of the groundwater samples is suitable for drinking, and a preponderance of groundwater samples situated in the class of hard and very hard water types for both seasons. Suitability of groundwater for drinking use was additionally assessed according to the water quality index classification. This showed that more than 98% of groundwater samples have good water quality in the dry and wet seasons. Conversely, the classification of groundwater samples based on Piper’s diagram designates that the groundwater type is alkaline water, with existing bicarbonate along with sulfate and chloride. However, water–ock exchange processes and groundwater flow have been responsible for the dominant water type of Ca–g–CO3., Validerad;2019;Nivå 2;2019-04-10 (inah)

The Dokan Reservoir dam is a concrete cylindrical arch with gravity abutments, located on the Lesser Zab River about 60 km from the city of Sulaimani in north-eastern Iraq. A bathymetric survey was conducted in November 2014 for a period of 10 days, using an echo sounder of 200-kHz single beam. The survey results indicated an annual average sediment deposition of 3.8 million m3. Thirty-two sediment samples were collected from the reservoir bed. The ratio of gravel, sand, silt and clay was 15:14:48:23, respectively. The reservoir bed is covered mainly with silt. The sediments are composed of silty clay (77.6%), silty sandy clay (10%), sandy gravely silty clay (1.2%) and gravely sandy silty clay (1%)., Validerad;2017;Nivå 1;2017-07-06 (rokbeg)

Halabja Saidsadiq Basin (HSB) is one of a major basin of Iraq in terms of groundwater reservoirs. Intensive agricultural practices and economic revolution are widespread and located close to groundwater wells, which pose imminent threats to these resources. Therefore, the most effective and realistic solution is to prevent the contamination of groundwater through. The present study targets the computation of the vulnerability of groundwater reservoirs of the study area. Three methods have been examined, namely DRASTIC, VLDA and COP to model a map of groundwater vulnerability for contamination. The standard DRASTIC vulnerability maps classified the basin of four vulnerability index zones: very low (34%), low (13%), moderate (48%) and high (5%). The VLDA model also classified the area into four categories as well: low (2%), moderate (44%), high (53%) and very high (1%). Four vulnerability classes were recognized based on COP model including very low, low, moderate and high vulnerability classes with coverage areas of (1%, 37%, 2% and 60%) respectively. After constructing every vulnerability map, it required to be confirmed in order to estimate the validity of the theoretical sympathetic of current hydrogeological conditions. In this study, nitrate concentration analysis was selected as a contamination indicator to validate the result. Considerable variations in nitrate concentration on dry to wet seasons had been renowned. Consequently, it points toward that groundwater in the HSB are capable to receive the contaminant due to suitability of overlies strata in terms of geological and hydrogeological conditions. Based on this confirmation, the result exemplifies that the degree and distribution of vulnerability classes acquired using VLDA model is more sensible., 2017-11-06 (rokbeg);Konferensartikel i tidskrift

Groundwater plays important roles as one of the essential source of water supplies of the studied area. Consequently, it needs to be prevented from contamination. In this study, two methods have been examined, namely DRASTIC (depth to groundwater, net recharge, aquifer media, soil map, topography, impact of vadose zone and hydraulic conductivity) and VLDA (vadose zone lithology, land use patterns, depth to groundwater and aquifer media) to model a map of groundwater vulnerability for contamination of the basin. The standard DRASTIC vulnerability maps classified the basin of four vulnerability index zones: very low (34%), low (13%), moderate (48%) and high (5%). While the VLDA model classified the area into four categories as well: low (2%), moderate (44%), high(53%) and very high (1%). The results demonstrate that there is a significant dissimilarity in the rate of vulnerability. Validation of the constructed maps is required to confirm the validity of the theoretical sympathetic of current hydrogeological conditions. In this study, nitrate concentration analysis was selected as a contamination indicator to validate the result. The nitrate concentration of two different seasons (dry and wet) was analyzed from (30) watering wells, considerable variations in nitrate concentration from dry to wet seasons had been noted. Consequently, it points toward that groundwater in the HSB (Halabja Saidsadiq Basin) is capable to receive the contaminant due to suitability of overlies strata in terms of geological and hydrogeological conditions. Based on this confirmation, the result exemplifies that the degree and distribution of vulnerability level acquired using VLDA model is more sensible than that attained from the standard DRASTIC method .In addition, the DRASTIC models need to be modified based on the land use pattern, which clarifies the role of human activity on the vulnerability system., Validerad; 2016; Nivå 1; 2016-11-22 (andbra)

Iraq is facing water shortage problem despite the presence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. In this research, long rainfall trends up to the year 2099 were studied in Sulaimani city northeast Iraq to give an idea about future prospects. Two emission scenarios used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (A2 & B2) were employed. The results indicates that the average annual rainfall show a significant downward trend for both A2 and B2 scenarios. In addition, winter projects some increase/decrease in the daily rainfall statistics of wet days, the spring season show very slight drop and no change for both scenarios. However both summer and autumn show a significant reduction in maximum rainfall value especially in 2080s while the other statistics remain nearly the same. The extremes events are to decrease slightly in 2080s with highest decrease associated with A2 scenario. This because the rainfall under scenario A2 is more significant than under scenario B2 and temperature can be very hot and worse with increase in emission scenario which causes the moist air to be evaporated before going up and cause the rainfall. The return period of a certain rainfall will increase in the future when a present storm of 20 year could occur once every 43 year in the 2080s. An increase in the frequency of extreme rainfall depends on the return period, season of the year, the future period considered and the emission scenario under which it will occur, Validerad; 2014; 20140212 (nadhir)