GIS Approach for Spatial Distribution Analysis of Groundwater Quality at South-West Part of Basrah

Abstract

Water is necessary for sustainable development and healthy society.  Groundwater, often, is not sufficient and protected for direct human consumption. Due to increase in the density of population the requirement of water is increasing.  In this work, the assessment of groundwater quality was conducted in the south-west part of Basrah province. Spatial variations in the quality of groundwater in the study area have been analyzed utilizing GIS technique. The geochemical parameters of groundwater samples including pH, EC, TDS, Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, HCO₃, SO₄, and NO₃ were assessed in this study. Information maps of the study area have been actually prepared to make use of the GIS spatial interpolation approach for all the parameters. The current study reveals that most of the parameters are observed to be beyond permissible limit as per WHO and Iraqi standards. Thus, it is concluded from this work that results acquired in this research and the spatial database founded in GIS will be useful to monitor and manage the groundwater pollution in the study area.