Assessment of the water suitability of the main outfall drain river for irrigation purposes in Iraq : case study

Abstract EN

Agricultural productivity is highly associated with the quality of irrigation water, it becomes critical to know the quality of water resources.

The Main Outfall Drain (MOD) is one of the major developed rivers in Iraq for drained water in some locations and irrigation purposes in other locations.

Hence, it is important to evaluate its quality and suitability spatially and temporarily for agricultural irrigations.

The water quality of MOD River at two locations in Baghdad, Iraq was assessed for five years (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2019) applying Irrigation Water Quality Guidelines (IWQG) to investigate the possibility of using the water resource for irrigation purposes.

The IWQG is created based on the FAO standard of irrigation water to calculate the water quality indicators.

The results showed that, the IWQG is shown to be an efficient tool for evaluating irrigation water quality and suitability in Iraq.

There were slight differences between the water quality and suitability of Abu-Ghraib and Mahmudiyah.

The water quality of the MOD River in Baghdad is suitable for irrigating several crops with appropriate irrigation management