CRITICAL INVESTIGATION OF SOME QUALITY PARAMETERS OF GROUNDWATER IN THE GOKSU PLAIN, TURKEY


Sari B.

FRESENIUS ENVIRONMENTAL BULLETIN, vol.23, pp.3524-3534, 2014 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 23
  • Publication Date: 2014
  • Journal Name: FRESENIUS ENVIRONMENTAL BULLETIN
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.3524-3534
  • Çukurova University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Heavy consumption of water from coastal aquifers hydraulically connected with sea or ocean may cause saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers. Therefore, water supply from coastal aquifers is often restricted due to excessive saltwater intrusion. The aim of this study was to evaluate the spatial changes in electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS) and chloride (Cl) concentrations observed in 23 irrigation and observation wells, located in Goksu plain by applying probabilistic and geo-statistical methods. Based on the observations in the water wells and irrigation channels, the EC, TDS, and Cl- concentrations varied between 437 and 3480 mu S/cm, 280 and 2227 mg TDS/L, and 25 and 1662 mg Cl-/L, respectively. Kriging estimate maps were plotted for each variable and used for interpreting the concentration distribution of each parameter over the study area. Hence, it is concluded that the use of groundwater wells is inconvenient at as much as 33% of the study area since the sustainability of agricultural production is under direct or indirect threat by the increase in parameters of EC, TDS, and Cl-.