Assessment of water quality in main branches of Shatt al-Arab River

Abstract EN

Shatt Arab River is characterized by its large number of lateral branches.

Some of these branches extend into the center of Basra province, Southern of Iraq.

These branches include; Saraji, Khora, Ashar, Khandek, Robat, Jubyla, and Shatt Al Turk.

The extension of these branches into the center of Basra province transforms them to locations for the disposal of sanitary sewage and solid waste.

This causes their pollution and high lights the necessity of evaluating their water quality.

The aim of this study is to assess the present status of water quality in main branches of Shatt Al Arab River using Canadian Water Quality Index.

The assessment considers the water quality for three uses; domestic, recreation, and aquatic life support.

To achieve this aim, water samples were taken from the considered branches during high and low tide times.

The samples were tested for determining the values of ten quality parameters; dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, turbidity, total dissolved solids, pH, ammonia, total coliform bacteria, fecal coliform bacteria, nitrate, lead, and sulfate.

The obtained values of Canadian Water Quality Index for the main branches of Shatt Al Arab River vary over the ranges (13.3-25.8), (19.3-32.1), and (13.0-27.8) for domestic, recreation, and aquatic life support uses.

These results indicated that the water quality in main branches of Shatt Al Arab River is poor and their water cannot be used for domestic, recreation, or aquatic life support.