Water quality monitoring of Duhok Dam (Kurdistan region of Iraq)‎

Abstract EN

Surface water quality is a crucial factor that contributes for drinking water demand and agriculture use.

In the light of progressive depletion of water quality of the Duhok dam, an investigation of major dissolved ions was performed.

The main objectives were to detect the water quality condition for drinking and agriculture purposes and temporal variations of studied parameters.

The water quality analysis of Duhok Dam was assessed based on 14 water quality parameters (turbidity, total dissolved solids, pH, electrical conductivity, total alkalinity, total hardness, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, bicarbonate, sulfate, chloride, nitrate) which were collected monthly from two locations (91 samples from each location) for a period of 8 years between 2009 and 2017.

The water quality analysis of Duhok Dam was assessed based on 14 water quality parameters.

The water of study area was found to be characterized by the dominance ion of calcium and sulfate based on Piper trilinear diagram.

The observed results indicated to high concentrations of electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids, sulfate and total hardness in all water samples and some concentrations exceed the guidelines prescribed by WHO in 2008.

In addition, temporal variations of most parameters were observed.

The quality of water is believed to be controlled by both geological formation and anthropogenic activities around the dam.