Assessment of the effluents of basra city main water treatment plants for drinking and irrigation purposes

A severe water scarcity challenge is facing Iraq, which is predominantly due to the absence of water management policies, negatively impacting the water quantity and quality provision from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Moreover, these practices have led to the intrusion of the Arabian Gulf salinity wedge into the Shatt Al-Arab River (SAR), which is the main water source for most water treatment plants (WTPs) in Basra city. In addition, the inadequate management and operation for most WTPs is another reason for the deterioration of water quality provided to Basra province. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of the main WTP within Basra province and to subsequently make recommendations for decision-makers to come up with new management strategies and policies. The effluents from eight WTPs were selected to study the quality of water supply for Basra city during the period between January 2018 and December 2018. The results showed that all WTPs were inadequate to treat raw water for drinking or irrigation purposes mainly due to the very bad raw water quality provided by the SAR as well as the lack of maintenance for such plants, resulting in very low removal efficiencies for various water contaminants.