Quality Assessment of Groundwater for Agriculture in the Hail Region, Saudi Arabia

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Plant Production and Protection Department, College of Agriculture &Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, KSA.

Abstract

As a result of the arid climate of Saudi Arabia, groundwater is the most precious natural resource, providing reliable water supply for the resident population and the development of irrigated agriculture where surface water resources are insufficient and little to meet the water budget requirements of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study was carried out to evaluate the quality of groundwater resources in selected locations of Hail region. This study focused on the important chemical analysis of the available groundwater resources in Hail region. Groundwater samples were collected from 61wells at different locations that cover the Hail region for chemical analysis. Parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), carbonate (CO3--) bicarbonate (HCO-3), chloride (Cl-), and heavy metals were analyzed moreover the calculation of sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) to assess the suitability of groundwater for agricultural purposes. The pH values were between 7.10 and 8.23 (M = 7.66). The salinity of groundwater, as a primary indicator of water quality for irrigation, ranged between moderate and high (between 0.27 to 8.99 dS m-1) in most studied water samples. Besides salinity, 31.1% of Hail groundwater samples have the potential risk of chloride hazard (chloride > 10 meq L-1). SAR values were less than 9 for all groundwater samples while the heavy metals were within acceptable levels.

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