Using the WQI method and the Man-Kendall test to assess the qualitative and quantitative status of groundwater aquifers (case study: Sarkhoon plain, Hormozgan province)

Lack of sustained access to water resources will lead to social disputes and economic disruption. This issue is currently one of the serious problems in Sarkhoon watershed, Hormozgan province. In this regard, the WQI method and the Man-Kendall test have been used to determine the water quality class andto observe the trend in the studied variables, respectively. The results showed that a significant and definite decrease in the quality and level of groundwater in the Sarkhoon plain. The obtained trend for declining water level in the plain had a coefficient of variance of 0.03 and S-Mann-Kendall statistic of -277 at 99.9% significance level. The slope of trend obtained for water level drop and the increase in WQI values, which indicates a decrease in water quality, were -33.3 and -42.3, respectively. The reported values for the slope of trend represent a decrease of 33 centimeters and an increase of 3/4 WQI unit per year.