Geochemistry, Pollution Analysis and Management of Groundwater in Karaj plain, Iran

Geochemistry , Pollution Analysis and Management of Groundwater in Karaj plain, Iran

Introduction:

All living things depend absolutely on a supply of fresh water and in term of human necessities; water is considered most important next only to air. Water is used for many purposes Viz., domestic, agriculture, industry and other multi various needs. However, many people around the world are chronically short of water even for personal needs. There are several reasons for paucity of water and most important among them is increasing population. Increasing population and changing world, demand increased needs of consumptive and non-consumptive water. Thus, it is true that fresh water is indispensable for human survival and is an essential requirement for sustainable development. Worldwide agriculture accounts for 69% the lion’s share of water use and agricultural demand is growing as population continues to increase. Major part of this demand is met with ground water resources and hence ground water table is gone down alarmingly and condition is precarious. In addition, water quality is just as important as quantity. The water in many places is contaminated and water born diseases continue to be scourages of human kind. Management of water resources especially groundwater is very complex in view of the competing demands for utilization. The study demands realistic appraisal of current and anticipated demands for water by various water uses. It is therefore important that latest modern techniques of study and evaluation of water resources by adopting the modern methodologies like Arc GIS SPSS, Rockwork, Rockware and etc, softwares.

Aim and scope of the present study:

Assessing the quantity and quality of water resources is the important aspect in water resources planning and management. Unfortunately much of the world’s population specially in country like Iran lacks a suitable and safe water supply and many a time supplies are disrupted. With growing population these types of

Problems are going more common in near future. Hence interdisciplinary studies are required with reference to the research problem in tackling the existing problems efficiently and overcome.

The present study aims to evaluate ground water resources and its quality since scanty surface water resources available in Karaj plain, Iran and analyzing its trend, both in space and time. An attempt is made to understand the nature of the problem in terms of ground water related issues and to come out with an appropriate solution on a scientific basis. The approach towards the problem will be multidisciplinary as it includes, geological, hydrological, hydrogeochemical and environmental conditions of the area.

Karaj Plain is one of the vast highland plain of Iran, with an average annual rainfall of 260mm and total annual infiltration of groundwater is estimated to be 56 million cubic meters. The demand of fresh water for various multi-user like anthropogenic needs, agriculture practice and industrial demand is about 61.5 billion cubic meters. At present, there is a shortage of 5.5 billion cubic meters in a year and this may be further agrivated due to increase of population and resulted more demand in near future. Decrease in volume of groundwater reservoirs will also consequently cause the reduction of the quality of groundwater. Apart from this the ground water of the area is severely contaminating from influx of pollutant waste water of industrial plants and human waste effluents in Karaj city. Further Increasing development of industry, agricultural practice and excessive population growth in the region results more of contamination of groundwater in the region. Therefore assessing the quantity and quality of groundwater resources and its judicial usage is the important aspects in water resources planning and management of the study area.

Review of literature:

The candidate has looked into the above discussed problems in the chosen area and noticed that not much work has done. There are only meager reports in the literature. The quality of groundwater in Karaj Plain since the last 10 years has been investigated and tested by Tehran Regional Company and the concentration of cations, anions, saltiness etc., are studied. Recently, State Geological Organization has analysed, soil and surface and ground water resources in and around Tehran city. There is a report on ‘Study of concentration of heavy metal elements in groundwater resources of Garmabdasht in Gorgan, by Sahar Armanpour et al 2007. There are also reports on “Geochemical processes are responsible for the spatial-temporal variations in groundwater chemistry in the western part of Iran” (Fazel Tavassol, Sajjad et al. 2008 and Fazel Tavassol, Sajjad 2009). Hence an in depth study of qualitative and quantitative analysis and management of ground water resources in Karaj plain is much needed.

Geographical position of the studied region:

one of the biggest city of Alborz Province is Karaj city. The study area, Karaj plain is situated in northwest of Tehran, Iran, lies between latitudes 34°50′ to 35°30′ N and longitudes 47°12′, to 48°10′ E covering an area of 811 sq km. Its northern side is situated in the northern highlands of Karaj, the eastern side is Kan River, the western side is Hashrgerd Plain and the southern side is Mallard and Saleh Abad. The average height of the region is 1500 m above MSL.

The most important city located in this Alborz Province is Karaj, which is metropolis including some large and small cities with populations of more than 1728000 persons and an area of 162 sq km. There are more than 3000 large and small scale chemical, automotive and food industries in the region. Area of farmlands is estimated to be about 17000 hectares.

IRAN

Iran

Location of the study area

OBJECTIVES:

The following objectives are formulated for chosen study area:

• Identification of different hydrogeomorphical conditions and lineament analysis of the study area.
• Assessment of groundwater quality and hydrogeomorphical modeling.
• Evaluation the water resourses by environmental impact assessment (EIA)
• Conservation and management of groundwater in the study area.

Materials and methods used in the Chosen area of research:

The following methods are to be adopted in the present investigations and analysis:

1. Geological map of the study area will be complied using existing regional geological map, satelite imageries and GIS softwares.
2. Analysis and spacial distribution theamatic maps of rainfall will be constructed using meteorological data and GIS softwares
3. Morphometric analysis and hydrogeomophic zones of the Karaj plain will be done using SOI toposheets, Satelite Imageries and GIS. (Arc GIS10, Global Mapper 14, PCI.Geomatica.2012.SP1)
4. 35 groundwater samples will be collected in a grid pattern from the study area for premansoon and postmansoon seasons by adopting international standard techniques. Physico-chemical characteristics of ground water samples will be carried out using modern and sophisticated analytical instruments like Flame Photometer, Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry, UV-Vissible Spectrophotometer and Titrimetry method.
5. Analysis of the quality of groundwater resources will be made in understanding the rock- water interaction, distribution of major and minor elements and impact of pollutants in water resources using available standard software and diagrams.
6. Environmental Impact Assessment of the study area will be carried out (Arc GIS10, PCI.Geomatica.2012.SP1,SPSS). The advantage of this technique is that it takes into account of all the aspects of the environment i.e. ecology, physical/chemical aspects and human/social interest etc,.
7. By considering all the above aspects and parameters, hydrogeochemical model will be proposed (Arc GIS10). This model will be much helpful for conservation and better management and utilization of the groundwater resources.

Outcome of the research investigation:

• Assess the impact of over exploitation of ground water and pollution impact on aquifer system and ground water quality.
• Suggest remedial measures to minimize the ground water withdrawal by adopting advances irrigation techniques.
• Management of water resources and used as a model to adopt in other similar areas.

References:

• Armanpour, Sahar- Karami,G- Yakhkoshi,E (2007), Study of concentration of heavy and main metal elements in groundwater resources of Garmabdasht in Gorgan, the first environmental and medical geological conference.
• Fazel Tavassol, Sajjad –Manshuori , M , 2008, study on reasons and problems of aquifer overdraft in Asad Abad Plain in Hamedan, the fourth national conference of geology and environment in Eslamshahr(in Persian).
• Fazel Tavassol, Sajjad(2009), master's course thesis , Study of Chahardoly Aquifer Gaseous Reasons and its Environmental impacts, Tehran Azad University , Sciences and Research Branch , P81 to 83(in Persian).
• Water Resources Studies Unit of Tehran Regional Water Company (2005), report on suggestion for extension of the prohibition in the studied region of Tehran-Karaj .