Available online at www.garmian.edu.krd Passer Journal Passer 5 (Issue 1) (2023) 161-170 http://passer.garmian.edu.krd/ 161 Representative and Map Analysis for Irrigation Water Quality Status and Heavy Metal Indices in Qurato River by using GIS Basim Shakir Al-Obaidi 1 Abdulmutalib Raffat Sarhat 2* Aram Hassan Mohammed 3 1 Tikrit University, Collage of Agriculture, Soil and Water Science Department, Iraq 2 Department of Chemistry, College of Education, University of Garmian, Kurdistan, Iraq 3 Department of Social Sciences, College of Basic Education, University of Garmian, Kurdistan, Iraq Received 16 January 2023; revised 03 April 2023; accepted 03 April 2023; available online 12 April 2023 DOI: 10.24271/PSR.2023.381834.1233 ABSTRACT The research paper aims to assess the quality of Qurato River water by using three indexes which are Irrigation Water Quality Guideline (IWQG), Heavy Metal Pollution Index (HIP), and Metal Index (MI). Therefore, ten (10) sampling stations were appointed along the river stream from Parwezkhan to Kalar, where the Qurato River flows into the Sirwan River. Samples were analyzed in terms of physicochemical parameters, including concentrations of cations, anions, (EC), and six heavy metals, including (Al), (Fe), (Cd), (Pb), (As), and (Cr). The results reveal that the values of (IWQG) were ranged from (44.66) to (69.27) with an average of (60.31) and the majority of the stations fall within the moderate restriction class. Also, the average value of HPI are ranged between (17.1) and (30.7), which denotes that most of the water samples in the Qurato River fall under the (Medium) class, while, only one station showed a high value of HIP (>30). This station is located close to the Parwezkhan Border Crossing, where the effluents of quality control laboratories are discharged into the river directly without any treatment. The average value of MI was (0.46), which falls within the (pure) class. Therefore, the research revealed that water in the Qurato River is safe for irrigation purposes. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Keywords: Qurato River, IWQG software, Heavy Metal Pollution Index (HPI), Metal Index (MI). 1. Introduction Rivers are considered as a source of water which used for drinking and irrigation purposes. Anthropogenic sources of pollutants lead to degrade the quality of surface water, and make it unsuitable for drinking, irrigation, and ecological needs [1, 2] . The anthropogenic sources include discharging of industrial and agricultural wastewater; however, the natural sources include precipitation, erosion, and runoff [3] . Availability of water for irrigation purposes is the main factor for the expansion of agricultural land use to supply food for people [4] . The presence of high amounts of pollutants in water is considered as a major concern for crop cultivation, which leads to degrading the water and the soil quality and then decreasing the crops yield [5] . Calcium, magnesium, sodium, bicarbonate, sulfate, hardness, and heavy metals are the most significant ions that alter the suitability of irrigation water at high concentrations [6, 7] . Over the last few years, there has been highly variable climate and a significant reduction of rainfall in the Sirwan River Basin in the Kurdistan Region- Iraq. Generally, rainfall has been becoming an unreliable source of water for irrigation uses in Iraq especially in the Sirwan River Basin because of the spatial and temporal variability of rainfall. On the other hand, the Iranian government has established many irrigation projects and dams in the Sirwan River basin, including the Qurato River, which negatively affected water flows and their quality. The main aim of assessing irrigation water is to assess the influence of water on soil properties and plant growth [8] . Currently, poor quality of irrigation water is a major environmental issue in the world [9] , and it can adversely affect both the quality of soil and plant production. Also, irrigation water sources could be of low quality due to anthropogenic and natural pollution or both [10] . Identifying the most important characteristics of plant growth and their permissible limits, is the main step in assessing irrigation water quality. The second step includes examining water quality in a reputable laboratory; then, a scientific interpretation of the results help to solve the issues of water quality [11] . There is no relevant research conducted on the Qurato River concerning water quality issue. Therefore, this research paper intends to evaluate the physiochemical characteristics of the Qurato River water that support crop production in the current region. Besides, this study intends to use some water quality indexes to assess the suitability of the river water for agricultural uses. The novel aspect of this research is that systematic analysis was conducted * Corresponding author E-mail address: abdulmutalib.raafat@garmian.edu.krd (Instructor). Peer-reviewed under the responsibility of the University of Garmian.