Assessment of Drains Water Quality for Irrigation Purposes Using Pollution Indices in Egypt

Abstract

The drainage systems are a major source of water that can be used again in agriculture. The current objective of this study is to evaluate the suitability for irrigation of 50 drain water samples collected during summer 2021 surrounding Rosette Branch. According to statistical analyses of the physicochemical parameters measured, the average temperature of the drain water was around 28.192 °C, with a range of 23.3 to 32.4 °C. The mean pH value was 7.64, which ranged from 6.51 to 8.71. The conductivity (EC) showed a mean value of 848.52 μS/cm, which ranged between 330 to 1591 μS/cm. The total dissolved solids (TDS) showed a mean value of 547.5 mg/L, which was acceptable for irrigation use. The range of TDS values was varied from 211.2 to 1034 mg/L. The average concentration of trace element values for the collected drainage samples were in the following sequences: Zn > Fe > Al > Mn > Cr > Pb > Ni > CO > Li > Cd, respectively. The pollution indices, including the heavy metal pollution index (HPI), metal index (MI), contamination index (Cd), and pollution index (PI), were estimated. For instance, The MI values revealed that 36% of samples were slight affected, 10% of samples were moderately affected, 42% of samples were strongly affected, and 12% of samples were seriously affected on water quality for irrigation. In the long-term irrigation water use, the MI had a median value of 4.10, which ranged from 1.01 to 23.35.