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International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7 (4.20) (2018) 245-250 International Journal of Engineering & Technology Website: www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/IJET Research paper Physicochemical Quality Assessment and Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Groundwater Quality in Basrah, Iraq Ammar Salman Dawood 1 *, Ahmed Sagban Khudier 2 , Ahmed Naeemah Bashara 3 1 Deptartment of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Basrah, Iraq 2 Deptartment of Architecture Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Basrah, Iraq 3 Deptartment of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Basrah, Iraq *Corresponding author E-mail:ammars.dawood@yahoo.com Abstract Groundwater is the very vital natural resource which must not be essentially utilized and sustained unless its quality is precisely evaluated. A total of 41 groundwater samples were collected from selected areas within Basrah province in 2014 to assess its suitability for irrigation uses. Physicochemical indices such as permeability index (PI 5.44 to 84.32 meq L -1 ), percentage of sodium (Na% 8.87 to 51.03 meq L -1 ) and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR 0.11 to 39.33 meq L -1 ) indicate that the groundwater in the study area is suitable for irrigation except for few locations. The results show that the high values of total dissolved solids (TDS > 3000 mg L -1 ) for some samples minimized their application for irrigation. Principal component and cluster analyses were usually used as a supporting tool for assistance arrange and interpret the chemical analysis. Three principal components explanation for most of the variability in the groundwater data were represented. Keywords: Assessment, Basrah , Groundwater , Irrigation water, Multivariate analysis.. 1. Introduction Groundwater is a beneficial resource that is naturally available it does occur almost in every geological formation under the earth's surface. Groundwater acts as an important component as a decentralized provider of drinking water as well as satisfying the requirements for irrigation for millions of agricultural and urbanized families. For lots of communities which are rural, in the Zubair district, groundwater is a major source of water for irrigation and other applications. The groundwater demand has increased for many years because of rapid urbanization, economic development, population growth, in- dustrialization, as well as the agricultural expansion. Some specific attributes of groundwater along with the existence of dissolved min- erals, in comparison with surface water, make groundwater is a se- lection that is recommended for many purposes (Rajankar et al. 2009). When the concentration of several organic and inorganic ma- terials exceeds the tolerable range causes an effect that is undesira- ble for human health. Organized assessment of groundwater quality is essential for fulfilling the increasing water demand and important for the optimum application of obtainable groundwater on a main- tained basis. The quality of groundwater is, nevertheless, becoming decadent commonly because of several factors such as improper sewage management, overexploitation, and unsanitary circumstances exist- ing in the rural higher application of fertilizers, insufficient water planning, and non-execution of planning measures. The quality to- gether with the suitability of groundwater for different purposes such as industrial, domestic and agricultural uses depends upon the atmospheric precipitation, quality of recharge water, and interior surface water. There are some factors, which cause a variety of groundwater types; these are an ion-exchange process, groundwater residence time in the aquifers, and salt leaching (Sami 1992). The waste materials possibly are absorbed and transported to the groundwater, making the groundwater to be polluted, therefore the necessity for control and frequent monitoring of groundwater qual- ity in these areas. The oxidation-reduction reactions and rock-water interaction throughout the filtration of water in aquifers produce groundwater with different quality (Back 1966; Kumar et al. 2009; Aghazadeh and Mogaddam 2011). Numerous researchers have been suggested various approaches to assess the data on water quality based on the aim, test types in ad- dition to the sampling area. Al-Sadiy and Atiaa (2007) investigated the hydrological budget of the Dibdibba sandy aquifer for the dura- tion from 1980 to 2000. They introduced a study for groundwater management resources. Al-Adhab (2011) used an investigation study to assess and discover the suitability of groundwater in Um- Qasr area for domestic and agricultural uses. He discovered that the origin of groundwater in that area was of a meteoric type, he also discovered that the groundwater is not suitable for drinking and ag- ricultural purposes and if the groundwater used by farmers for irri- gation, it is suitable for only date tree and some other crops. At- Temimi (2016) used geographical information system (GIS) to as- sess and identify the variation and the origin of groundwater Dib- dibba aquifer south of Basrah. He used geostatistics interpolation technique in Arc GIS 10.2.2 to create the spatial distribution of studied parameters, he was found that the groundwater origin was the meteoric origin. Dawood and Ahmed (2016) evaluated the qual- ity of groundwater Safwan, Zubair, and Um Qasir, south of Basrah Province for different purposes included industrial, construction and agricultural. The chemical results from their study indicated that the groundwater was unsuitable for industrial uses based on the standard classification and the groundwater was unacceptable for irrigation except for very salt-tolerant plants as well as excellent