Tigris River Water Quality Quantifying Using the Iraq Water Quality Index (IraqWQI) and Some Statistical Techniques

Evaluation of water quality is important for the management of water resources. The current study is focused on water quality data monitoring analysis. of the Tigris River in Iraq by the application of the principal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis (CA), and water quality index (WQI). Twelve water quality parameters were taken from 14 stations along the river are Ca+2, Mg+2, Na+1, K+1, Cl-1, SO4-2, HCO3-1, NO3-1, TH, TDS, BOD5, and EC to apply the PCA and CA. The results show that the mean of all the variables was under the boundaries. except for EC, Ca+2, Mg+2, SO4-2, and TH. EC is the essential element impacting the consistency of the river water. The PCA has one major component which accounts for 97% of variance from various sources of pollution. The CA divided the river into three regions of sampling stations with similar water quality, the best in the north, and the worst in the far south. In this paper, the computer-automated tool (IraqWQI) was presented and evaluated, which has been developed by authors to classify and measure the quality of Iraqi surface water. The proposed index is of hundred degrees and includes six variables for drinking water quality are Cl-1, TH, TDS, COD, DO, and total coliform (TC) according to the Iraqi specifications. The result of the IraqWQI application showed decreasing in the water quality of the river and the suitability for drinking toward the south of the country. The best value of the index was (81.48, Good) in Fishkhabour during winter, and the worst value was (46.23, Bad) in Qurnah during summer. The study showed that the use of statistical technologies and WQI as useful instruments for the management, control, and protection of surface water has been effective and significant