Hydrochemical Assessment of Groundwater in Rawah District Wells and Its Relation to Irrigation Suitability, Soil Salinization, and Desertification

Mohammed, Ahmed Marzoog; Al-Ani, Angham Kamal

doi:10.36531/ijds.2026.168553.1111

	Hydrochemical Assessment of Groundwater in Rawah District Wells and Its Relation to Irrigation Suitability, Soil Salinization, and Desertification
IRAQI JOURNAL OF DESERT STUDIES
Volume 16, Issue 1 - Serial Number 16, July 2026, Pages 34-42 PDF (1.01 M)
Document Type: Research Paper
DOI: 10.36531/ijds.2026.168553.1111
Authors
Ahmed Marzoog Mohammed^* ¹; Angham Kamal Al-Ani²
¹University of Anbar-College of Agriculture
²وزارة التربية / العراق/ الانبار
Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the groundwater quality in the district by selecting seven wells randomly distributed within the agricultural lands parallel to the Euphrates River. Samples were collected during November and December 2024, physical chemical tests were conducted on the water samples, including: temperature, total hardness (T.H), total dissolved solids (TDS), hydrogen ion function (pH), electrical conductivity (EC), turbidity, in addition to estimating the concentrations of some positive and negative ions (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Cl⁻, SO₄²⁻), with the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) calculated to determine the suitability of the water for irrigation .The results indicated an obvious spatial distribution of water quality, the temperature varied from 23.4 to 24.6 C°, turbidity ranged from 0.9 to 1.4 NTU and electric conductivity varied between 5200 to10500 (µs/Cm) dS/m. The pH ranged from 6.9 to 7.8, TDS from 6.9 to 13 g/L and the total hardness varied between 90–140 mg/L. Cation and anion concentrations ranged from 564 to 7560 mg/L Ca, 38.1-59.22 Mg, with Na of between 175 -1564 mg/l), K (6.5-132.5 mg/L), Cl (336.3-1309.8) and SO₄ (66.3 -102.5). SAR was in the range of 10.5–37.3 meq/L. These signs are indicative of moderate to high salinity with moderate or low sodicity hazard in some areas, which restricts the direct use for irrigation without correction behind drainage or for adopting suitable crops that tolerate salt and also by employing methods of salinity problems in soil by the induced method.
Keywords
Water quality; Rawah District; well water

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