Development and Evaluation of a Water Quality Index for the Iraqi Rivers

Water quality evaluation is fundamental for water resources management. Water quality index (WQI) is an accurate and easily understandable method for assessing water quality for different purposes. In this study, the Iraqi water quality index (Iraq WQI) was constructed to be used to evaluate the Iraqi rivers for drinking. For this purpose, some statistical techniques, experts’ advice, literature reviews, and authors’ experience were used. First, the principal component analysis (PCA) method and the modified Delphi method were used to select the most influential water quality parameters and their relative weights. Second, the quality curves of selected parameters were drawn to calculate the WQI scores basing on the water quality standards. Of twenty-seven parameters, six parameters were chosen to be within the index depending on their effect on water quality in order to reflect the specific characteristics of the Iraqi waters. The Iraq WQI was applied to the Tigris River within Baghdad as a case study and for some sites on other Iraqi rivers, and gave acceptable results. Results revealed that the statistical techniques used in this paper can be applied in all Iraqi rivers considering their specific characteristics. Based on the reliability of the Iraq WQI, there is no longer a need to use Indices designed for water for other countries.