Evaluation of health and hydrogeochemical parameters of Karst water resources in Golestan Province (Iran)

Water resources in karst areas are very important water supply from the aspects of quantity and quality in the world. Due to the wide scattering these resources in the country and in the province, this study was performed to determine the quality of karst water resources in Golestan province.
In this study the chemical and microbial quality of water of the most important Karst resources of Golestan Province (Iran) due to potability and irrigational consumption was performed in the Gorgan, Kalaleh, Azadshahr and Galikash cities, as a sectional manner within the two seasons of 2014-2015. For this purpose, 10 parameters of 12 water Karst resources were determined and qualitative classification of water was performed using Aq.qa software.
Results showed that the qualities of the total water resources are in the ranges of hard and very hard waters. The survey of water quality class showed that most of water samples were excellent in two seasons. Due to the Wilcox quality index, some of the resources as appropriate for agricultural use and some are not. All of samples are in middle class for drinking and no bacterial contaminants observed in water samples.
Generally, considering the importance of Karst resources in terms of proper quality and quantity compared with water dams in the country and the Golestan Province, comprehensive survey and study in quantitative and qualitative aspects of these resources should be done as a solution for supplying of agricultural irrigations and drinking waters.