Analysis of changes in water quality chemical parameters in the Bafgh watershed

Authors
Seyed Masoud Soleimanpour 1
S. Lotfinasab 2
O. Rahmati 3
M. Motamednia 4
1 Associate Professor, Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Department, Fars Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Shiraz, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Desert Research Department, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Iran.
3 Assistant Professor, Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Department, Kurdistan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Sanandaj, Iran.
4 Ph.D., Natural Resources and Watershed Management Department, Bafgh County, Yazd Province, Iran.
10.22034/wmji.2025.2065092.1120
Abstract
Groundwater is the primary source of water for domestic, agricultural and industrial use in many countries, and its quality reduction is recognized as one of the most serious problems. The quality of underground water depends on the nature of bedrock, topography, geology, soil, climate, atmospheric precipitation and the quality of fed water and sources of human pollution in terms of agricultural and industrial activities. In addition, groundwater quality can be affected by subsurface geochemical reactions such as weathering, dissolution, precipitation, ion exchange, and various biological processes. For this purpose, the current research was conducted with the aim of investigating the chemical water quality of Bafgh watershed. The necessary data and information on the chemical quality of underground water sources were obtained by referring to the Iranian Water Resources Research Organization and the Regional Water Organization of Yazd and Kerman Provinces in a joint statistical period of 17 years from the water year 2002-2003 to the water year 2017-2018. In order to determine the type of water, the sequence of the dominance of anions and cations, and to determine the hydrochemical processes and chemical compositions of water, Piper's diagram has been used. By using composite and Gibbs diagrams, the type and facies of underground water were determined and their causes were investigated. The results of the Piper diagram showed that the dominant type and facies in the basin is of the Sodic chloride type, which indicates the salinity of the underground water in this area. The results of the composite diagrams show that the process of evaporation, dissolution of halite, cation exchange, weathering and dissolution of rocks and minerals, especially carbonates such as calcite, dolomite and to a lesser extent gypsum and silicates, also, agricultural activities and the infiltration of return saline water from agriculture are factors affecting the chemical quality of underground water.
Keywords
Agriculture
Piper Diagram
Quality
Sources of pollution
Water Surface
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