Caspian Journal of Environmental Sciences, Vol. 20 No. 5 pp. 939-946 Received: Feb. 29, 2022 Revised: June 14, 2022 Accepted: Aug. 06, 2022 DOI: 10.22124/CJES.2022.6041 © The Author(s) Publisher: University of Guilan, Impacts of the river water pollution control on the health of aquatic animals in downstream Tasneem Younus Taraki* 1 , Sarab W. Alwash 2 , Taif Ahmed 3 , Shaymaa Bdulhameed Khudair 4 , Ahmed S. Abed 5 , Ayoob Murtadha Alshaikh Faqri 6 1. Department of Dentistry, Al-Noor University College, Bartella, Iraq 2. Medical Laboratory Techniques Department, Al-Mustaqbal University College, 51001 Hillah, Babylon, Iraq 3. college of pharmacy, Al-Farahidi University/ Iraq 4. Advanced Biomedical Science/ Al-Nisour University College/ Baghdad/ Iraq 5. Department of Prosthetic Dental Technology/ Hilla University college, Babylon, Iraq 6. Mazaya University College/ Iraq * Corresponding author’s E-mail: tasneem@alnoor.edu.iq ABSTRACT Water pollution is one of the most significant environmental issues and problems. Surface water, running water, and rivers are always the most polluted, due to passing through numerous areas. The objective of this study is to investigate the water quality of Euphrates River in central Iraq in terms of aquaculture, as well as how to control the concentrations of pollutants. About 60-km length of Euphrates River was modeled using artificial neural networks (ANN) using qualitative data. The standard range of polluting substances for aquaculture was evaluated, and the effect of implementing the scenario of controlling point sources of pollution and preventing the flow from coming into contact with waste piles and animal excrement were studied. Statistical criteria, including NSE, RMSE, and MAE, were used to evaluate the model performance in the training and testing phases. According to the results, implementing the desired scenario has reduced the concentrations of all pollutants to an acceptable level for aquaculture. The most significant decrease occurred in the regions closest to the industries and factories (0-10 km), while the slightest change occurred in the farthest reaches of the study area (50-60 km). The findings of this study can be used to implement water quality controls at the optimal time and location to influence the Euphrates River general state. Keywords: Pollution, Artificial neural networks, Aquatic animals, Euphrates River. Article type: Research Article. INTRODUCTION Human health has always been concerned with water pollution (Molajou et al. 2021). Pollutants enter aquatic ecosystems, causing surface and subsurface water pollution and ecosystem disruption (Brontowiyono et al. 2022). Assessing the quality of water resources has become one of the most pressing issues in recent years due to the growing water demand, the depletion of natural water reserves, environmental pollution, and the increase in the water requirements of human activities (Dutta et al. 2020; Israa Ibrahim et al. 2021; Abdouni et al. 2021; Melnik et al. 2021; Talib Jawad et al. 2022; Alewi et al. 2022). In this situation, monitoring and controlling the water quality at regular intervals appears necessary. This issue is more pronounced in arid and semi-arid regions where precipitation is irregular, intermittent, and accompanied by high evaporation rates (Rajmohan et al. 2019). The expansion of industries, the resulting release of wastewater, and the widespread use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture have prompted grave concerns regarding water quality (Singh & Chandra 2019; Ustaoğlu & Tepe 2019). Generally, deteriorating water quality threatens human health, aquatic life, economic growth, and