Developing a wet quality model using fuzzy approach for the Al-Gharraf River in Southern Iraq

Abstract

The present study develops a wet quality model based on fuzzy approach to assessment of the surface wet quality in Al-Gharraf River located in the South of Iraq. The wet quality parameters, including Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chloride (CL), Sulphate (SO4), Nitrate (NO3), and Phosphate (PO4), were selected as input parameters to fuzzy wet quality model (FWQ). To evaluate the performance of the proposed model (FWQ) of Al-Gharraf River in the period of the study, the produces of our model were compared with those of the wet quality index (WQI) and Canadian Wet Quality Index (CWQI). They showed similar results and were sensitive to changes in the level of wet quality parameters. However, the model proposed in the present study produced a more stringent produces compared to the WQI and CWQI. Results from the simulation indicate that the sensitivity analysis of the suggested approach will be improved by almost (17%, and 24%) more than that achieved by the processes WQI and CWQI, respectively. In conclusion, the proposed index seems to produce accurate and reliable results and can be used as a comprehensive tool for wet quality assessment.