Evaluating Quality of Ajabshir Groundwater Resources Based on Groundwater Quality Indicator (GQI) and Geographical Information System

Groundwater quality evaluation is very necessary to provide drinking water. Groundwater excessive consumption can cause subsidence and penetration of saline groundwater into freshwater aquifers in Ajabshir Plain, on the Urmia lake margin. The main goal of the current project was to evaluate the groundwater quality by employing the qualitative indices of groundwater and GIS. Ten parameters of 15 wells including EC, TDS, total hardness as well as the concentration of Ca++, Na+, Mg++, K+, SO4--, HCO3- and Cl- were analyzed. At first, the maps of parameters concentration were prepared by the kiriging method. Then based on WHO drinking water standards, the maps were standardized and ranked for drawing the maps of quality indices. The results showed that quality index changes were in the range of moderate (61) to acceptable (81). Removing the single map method of sensitivity analysis detected the quality index was more sensitive to the K+ parameter. Finally, the quality index from the eastern north to the western south of Ajabshir Plain and the other areas was ranked in the acceptable and moderate classes, respectively.