Assessment of groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation purposes in Karabuk province, Turkey

With the increasing environmental pollution, access to clean water has become an important issue all over the world. Therefore, it is quite important to obtain new water resources or to use existing resources more effectively. In this regard, the usability of groundwater for drinking and irrigation use was investigated in Karabuk province in Turkey. The locations of wells in Karabuk province were determined and the effects of industrial and agricultural pollution on groundwater were evaluated. Groundwaters were sampled at 22 different sampling points to determine the effects of industrial pollution on water quality. Samples were collected seasonally (wet and dry season) during the 12-month project from selected sampling points. Flow rate, temperature (T), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved matter (TDS) and pH measurement were performed in situ for the determination of groundwater quality. Analyses of major ions (Ca, Mg, Na, K, CO₃, HCO₃, CI, SO₄), trace elements (B, Li, Sr, Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb, Zn, As, Se, Ag, Hg, Cr, Cd, Co.), nitrite (NO₂) and nitrate (NO₃) in water samples are carried out to investigate chemical properties. As a result of the analyses the following parameters were found to be elevated in groundwater during the wet season: pH (up to 9.62), sulphate (476 mg/l) and iron (0.28 mg/l). Elevated levels of the following parameters were also measured in the dry season: pH (up to 9.77), sulphate (up to 614 mg/L), nitrate (up to 50.50 mg/l) and iron (up to 0.439 mg/l). All other values of measured parameters were found to be below the upper limits in terms of drinking water. Evaluation of the study data showed that, only well (K5) was found to be in the “Usable-Doubtful” class for irrigation during the wet season.