Assessment of Groundwater Quality for Industrial Purposes Using Geographical Information System (GIS) in Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran

Water quality is essential for industries because they play an important role in countries’ economic development. Groundwater is one of the most widely used resources, and when the ionic constituents were increasing higher than the allowable limit, it increases the cost of maintenance and production in the industries.

In order to evaluate groundwater corrosiveness and scaling potential in Zahedan City,  29 groundwater wells and GIS-based geostatistical mapping techniques were analyzed clemically. The physicochemical parameters were invetsiagted and the most popular corrosion and scaling indices were determined as Langelier Index (LI), Aggressive Index (AI), Ryznar Index (RI), Puckorius Index (PI), and Larson–Skold Index (LS). Using ArcGIS 10.6.1 software, the zoning maps were plotted for LI, AI, RI, PI, and LS indices.

The results showed that total dissolved solids (TDS) and electrical conductivity (EC) values in all of the samples exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water standard. AI values of 58.62% samples showing moderate corrosiveness, and the remaining 17 samples have a scaling nature with very less corrosivity. Based on the LI values, 55.2% of samples have a corrosive nature. Concerning RI values, 59% of the samples have a corrosive tendency. According to the PI values, the entire groundwater of this region has a significant corrosive tendency, and 96% of samples exceeded the LS > 1.2, showing a high rate of localized corrosion.

The zoning and spatial analysis of water quality showed that water quality was treated for industrial purposes in the entire studied region.