Study the Effect of Drought on Groundwater Quality Using Statistical Methods (Case Study: Main Plains in Khuzestan Province)

Subject Areas : watere sciences

Heydar  zarei ¹ (PHD)
Masoumeh  Ferasati ² (PHD)
Hadi  Moazed ³ (Facuality of Water Science Engineering)

Received: 2017-07-08 Accepted : 2017-07-08 Published : 2013-09-23

Keywords: factor analysis, drought, Ground water quality, Mann-Whitney test,

Abstract :

Drought is a natural phenomenon that occurrence of which has its own laws but the intensification, frequency, occurrence and its repetition depend on the human activities in nature. Destroying water quality, destroying plant cover and soil erosion are the main effects of Drought. In this research in order to investigate the effect of the recent draughts on the groundwater quality, water samples taken from the wells in 3 plains (Ize-peun, Dezful-Andimeshk and Gotvand-Aghili) in Khuzestan province, in two hydrologic years; 2006 (With adequate rainfall) and 2007 (With a significant reduction in rainfall).The parameters under investigation include Ca, Mg, Na, K, HCO3, SO4, EC, TDS and pH. To investigate that if the drought the change in the processes affecting groundwater quality in the plains or not, a non-parametric test Mann–Whitney and Factor Analysis were used. Results showed that although drought year of 2007 didn’t have a significant effect on the groundwater quality of plains, but if the drought continues, water quality may change.