Abbas Khazaee, Mehrnoosh Abtahi, Mahsa Jahangiri-Rad, Fatemeh Shokri-Daryan, Mohammad Rafiee,
Volume 17, Issue 1 (6-2024)
Background and Objective: Identifying the quality of non-conventional waters and exploring their optimal utilization are fundamental measures for maintaining public health. This study aims to investigate the effluent quality of the irrigation canals in Pakdasht farms.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 120 samples were collected from 6 irrigation canals in Pakdasht fields over a period of 5 months. The physicochemical and microbial characteristics of the canal effluents were determined based on the standard methods of water and wastewater tests. The concentration of heavy metals was measured using an ICP device. To determine the possibility of using the effluent of Pakdasht canals for agricultural purposes, the Environmental Protection Organization of Iran and FAO standards were used.
Results: The average concentrations of COD, BOD5, TSS, TDS, NO3-, SO4-2, PO4-3 parameters were 259, 125, 105, 697, 4.5, 94.4, 13.5 mg/L. Additionally, the average number of total and fecal coliforms in the effluent of the canals exceeded the standard values set by IRNDOE and FAO. The mean pH was 6.97, the electrical conductivity (EC) was 1014 μm/cm, and the turbidity was 76.2 NTU. The detected concentrations of heavy metals were awithin the following ranges: Cr (0.025-0.045 mg/L), Cd (0.0006-0.001 mg/L), Pb (0.0006-0.001 mg/L), Co (0.038-0.059 mg/L), and Ni (0.05-0.06 mg/L), which were roughly lower than the suggested standards. However, both HEI and WWQI indices confirmed that the water was unsuitable for agricultural irrigation.
Conclusion: Based on the comparison of the results of the parameters measured in this study with the environmental and FAO standards, the effluent from the irrigation canals of Pakdasht city is deemed unsuitable for the irrigation of warm-season crops but suitable for fodder and industrial crops.
