Groundwater Quality Analysis for Drinking and Agricultural Purposes-a Prerequisite for Land Use Planning in the Arid and Semi-arid Regions of Iran

Groundwater resources play a central role in meeting domestic and agricultural demands of residents in arid regions. Owing to rapid urbanization, the water use and land use has been changed considerably. Overexploitation of wells posed a huge burden to the available water resources. Degradation of water resources along with increase of salinity has adversely affected the water resources. Hence, the current paper focuses on determination of water quality for the wells of nine provinces of Iran which are influenced by water shortage. In this regard, WQI is a suitable index for analyisis and classification of data. To provide a holistic influence from individual water quality parameters on total water quality, water quality index (WQI) is employed. In other words, WQI is average weight of multiple parameters. Apart from WQI which has been used for drinking purposes, Wilcox has been used for agricultural water quality analysis. After identification of water quality conditions, sustainable settlement of population should be considered. Environmental planning and management, policy making, obtaining the conclusive strategies and land use planning should be taken into account after providing the water quality maps. Generation of water quality maps is an effective step for optimal operation of groundwater resources as well as decision making. In the present study, the most of the aquifers have been identified with low water quality (WQI=200-300).