Assessment of groundwater quality and its suitability for agricultural uses in Kifri

Groundwater is regarded as one of the main water sources in a number ofcountries in the world to supply cities and urban areas with water for domestic,agricultural and industrial uses. That is because of lack of surface water andrainfall quantities. Therefore, the levels and quantities of groundwater should beobserved regularly. The quality of groundwater is mainly influenced by theeffects of anthropogenic sources. The aim of this study is to evaluate the qualityof groundwater in Kifri district. In this case fifteen groundwater samples werecollected at identical locations from deeper wells in order to investigate theirquality parameters such as: pH, Electric conductivity, total dissolved solids,concentration of soluble ions and some others. The results of the concentrationswere measured and interpreted with some irrigation indexes such as sodiumpercent (SP), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC),magnesium hazard (MH%), and Kelly’s ratio (KR).The results reveal that all of groundwater samples have SAR less than(10); it is indicating water class to be of excellent quality. Also, all the sampleshave RSC less than the permissible (1.5). However, it is observed that (6.67 %)of the samples have MH ratio values greater than (50). Presence of moremagnesium in irrigation water compared to calcium leads to increase the degreeof magnesium saturation thus decrease soil productivity. The results also revealthat the samples have values of (SP) less than (60%). Overall, it indicates thatthe quality of (93.33%) of the samples falling under excellent category forirrigation purposes.