Assessment of Physicochemical Parameters of Spring Water Sources in Amediye District, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Nowadays, the growing population is demanding freshwater resources, and the availability of water influence the population distribution and its activities. Groundwater sources such as springs and wells are the major source of water for drinking, agricultural, and industrial consumptions. However, water resources are always exposed to industrial, agricultural, and residential pollutions. In the current study, water samples were collected from twenty-two springs sources from February to October 2017 in Amadiya districts, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The physicochemical characteristics including temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD5), electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness (TH), calcium hardness (Ca2), magnesium hardness (Mg2), turbidity (NTU), total alkalinity (TA), and nitrate (NO3-) of the samples were analyzed. The findings showed that most of the water samples were within the permissible limits for drinking usage according to WHO (World Health Organization) standards, while few samples were without the permissible level for TDS and EC. Also, higher concentrations of TDS and EC reported for some samples attributed to agricultural and residential contamination, which require water treatment for drinking purposes. The statistical analysis illustrated an acceptable correlation between analysis.