Determination of water quality index (WQI) for Qalyasan stream in Sulaimani city/Kurdistan region of Iraq

Qalyasan Stream in Sulaimani city is used as a source for irrigation and drinking water, and also as a sink for the untreated urban and industrial domestic’s wastewater. Therefore, the good quality of the stream changed from protected to impacted and finally to degraded. Degradation of water quality in the Qalyasan stream increased year after year due to unprecedented increase in population and rapid rate of urbanization in Sulaimani city and consequently effluence of many pollutants into the stream from the sources of domestic, agricultural, and industrial wastes. The present study aimed to calculate water quality index (WQI) by the analysis of thirteen physicochemical parameters on the basis of Weighted Arithmetic Index in order to assess the suitability of water for drinking, irrigation purposes and other human uses. The parameters were measured periodically at 10 sampling sites during June 2007 to January 2008. The results obtained on WQI for the different sampling sites were found to fall under the class from good (50- 100) class at the sample sites of S1, S2, S3 and S4 to unsuitable or unfit (> 300) class at the sample sites of S5, S6, S7, S8, S9 and S10. This indicated heavy pollution at the sites of S5, S6, S7, S8, S9 and S10 which hints at a number of sewage outlets and industries around

Khwakaram, A.I., Majid, S.N. and Hama, N.Y., 2012. Determination of water quality index (WQI) for Qalyasan stream in Sulaimani city/Kurdistan region of Iraq. International journal of plant, animal and environmental sciences, 2(4), pp.148-157.