ASSESSMENT OF THE WATER QUALITY INDEX OF EUPHRATES RIVER BETWEEN HEET AND RAMADI CITIES , IRAQ

Abstract

The Water Quality Index (WQI) of Euphrates river between Heet and Ramadi cities was carried out using various water quality parameter from November 2008 to June 2009 . Twelve water quality parameters namely Ph , Dissolved Oxygen (DO) , Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) , Turbidity , Total Dissolved Salts (TDS) , Total Suspended Solids (TSS) , Bicarbonate (HCO3 -) , Sulfate ( SO4 =) , Phosphate (PO4 =) , Total Nitrogen (TN) , Chloride ( Cl-) and Fecal Coliform (FC) were considered to compute Water Quality Index (WQI) based on the Canadian council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index methodology (CCME WQI) . We found that the water quality of Euphrates river in the study area is mostly rated as ״ marginal ) ״ CCME WQI is 45.17 ) for over all drinking aquatic uses in the study period . Generally , the water quality was ״ marginal ״ at the upstream and ״ poor ״ at the downstream throughout the study period . The deterioration of water quality in Euphrates river can be attributed to natural and anthropogenic sources .